I have forever planned to write a blog on haircut, barbershops having experienced it in rural, semi-urban and big city India and then having had my hair cut in a couple of other Asian countries and of course in a few cities in US. That detailed piece will maybe come some other day, but this is specific to events of this year 2020 - a year like no other. Having tried a few options and given the fact that I'm born stingy ( always blame the genes when you can), it meant haircuts in US are done in one of those chain shops with ever changing crew and getting a decent vs bad haircut is like a coin toss. My wife is usually very critical of my choice of these cheap haircut places and usually when I get back after a haircut it will usually be met with a disapproving look from her. Anyway the hair grows back quickly and within a week or so the slightly bad haircut won't be visible so I keep sticking to the cheap haircut option.
So we start the story of haircuts in 2020. I had a haircut in the early Feb and usually I go for a haircut every 5-6 weeks or so. By the time the mid march arrived we had heard of the first case in our county and since this was very close to home it was treated with sudden realization that its a real thing and nearby. For a few weeks all we discussed and focused on was the virus and in all this activity I forgot to get my haircut done and after 3rd week of march I realized I do need a haircut and actively considered going for a good short one to last me for a couple of months till the virus goes away ( so much hope we had then!). But my wife shot that idea down by deeming haircut as non-essential and unnecessary risk. We were getting even grocery online so what was the need to go and spend 15 min next to someone who might be a carrier. I think I was just a week late at that point, anyway the short window to get the haircut done was missed so long hair it was. I did grow my hair long some 12-13 years back, but I was much younger then and could afford to look weird without caring much. Spoke to a few friends and they were all in same boat, some were willing to take a risk and get haircut. In tamil it was labelled "Uyira - Mayira" choice! ( Translation probably won't work)
However by the time end of April arrived, I was positively sick of the long hair look and irritated my wife no end by constantly fiddling with my hair. The times were such that we were pulling our hairs out. Then internet came to rescue as usual and a little bit of research gave me a few options for good self use trimmer for hair, but all were sold out. So landed on the regular hair trimmers similar to the ones used by hair stylists in the chain shops I visit - maybe they use a little more fancy ones. Finally the critic of my haircuts got the opportunity to do my hair by herself and even in the first attempt I have to say she fared better than maybe some of poor haircuts I had. For a home haircut it was a resounding success and thank to an ever willing wife who cuts my hair every few months I didn't have to endure long hair after that ( not writing this because I need her to do this, she doesn't keep up with this forgotten blog!). Now she does a really good job of cutting my hair that sometimes I don't even realize that I'm cutting hair at home. Plus this also makes her comments about bad haircuts reasonable as even a part timer is able to at most times do a better job.
So we start the story of haircuts in 2020. I had a haircut in the early Feb and usually I go for a haircut every 5-6 weeks or so. By the time the mid march arrived we had heard of the first case in our county and since this was very close to home it was treated with sudden realization that its a real thing and nearby. For a few weeks all we discussed and focused on was the virus and in all this activity I forgot to get my haircut done and after 3rd week of march I realized I do need a haircut and actively considered going for a good short one to last me for a couple of months till the virus goes away ( so much hope we had then!). But my wife shot that idea down by deeming haircut as non-essential and unnecessary risk. We were getting even grocery online so what was the need to go and spend 15 min next to someone who might be a carrier. I think I was just a week late at that point, anyway the short window to get the haircut done was missed so long hair it was. I did grow my hair long some 12-13 years back, but I was much younger then and could afford to look weird without caring much. Spoke to a few friends and they were all in same boat, some were willing to take a risk and get haircut. In tamil it was labelled "Uyira - Mayira" choice! ( Translation probably won't work)
However by the time end of April arrived, I was positively sick of the long hair look and irritated my wife no end by constantly fiddling with my hair. The times were such that we were pulling our hairs out. Then internet came to rescue as usual and a little bit of research gave me a few options for good self use trimmer for hair, but all were sold out. So landed on the regular hair trimmers similar to the ones used by hair stylists in the chain shops I visit - maybe they use a little more fancy ones. Finally the critic of my haircuts got the opportunity to do my hair by herself and even in the first attempt I have to say she fared better than maybe some of poor haircuts I had. For a home haircut it was a resounding success and thank to an ever willing wife who cuts my hair every few months I didn't have to endure long hair after that ( not writing this because I need her to do this, she doesn't keep up with this forgotten blog!). Now she does a really good job of cutting my hair that sometimes I don't even realize that I'm cutting hair at home. Plus this also makes her comments about bad haircuts reasonable as even a part timer is able to at most times do a better job.
Last week we ended up doing video chat with my wife's cousin's family as my daughter wanted to say hi to her cousins who she didn't know existed till then but once she realized their existence kept pestering to see them on video chat and say hi to them. We saw that my wife's cousin was sporting a long hair and his son was also having long hair and my 4 year old was surprised to see boys having long hair. While they explained to my daughter that they are sporting long hair because you can't go and get a haircut these days because of covid, my daughter was not buying it. But my dad always gets his hair cut by my mom... he never goes to any shop ... its easy she added!
Just one of those 2020 things I guess, haircuts at home . There are lot of things we take for granted about pre covid life that I miss but haircut is slightly lower on the list. Sure its a routine part of life and stuff and of those chores which are actually fun but getting this done at home isn't all that bad even if you cannot afford to complain this time about a bad haircut ;)
