cosmolinguist | [217/365] haircut

I've had one or maybe two professional haircuts since February 2020. The last (or only?) one was early this year.

So it's a big heckin deal to get one. But a reported friend of mine who lives nearby reported that she'd found a barber that would give a "men's" haircut to anyone who wanted one (shockingly difficult; the place across the street wouldn't apparently, and I've always had trouble with this too).

So I tried it out today and I love it! The guy wore a mask, worked around mine, gave me a gay haircut, and it was very affordable! My friend was so right to recommend it.

This must be the most masc haircut I've had, and the whole experience was so unremarkable and...also masc I guess. It made me so happy.

I've gotten my hair cut at barbers for 15 years or so but it's always been under sufferance, a big deal: a lesbian friend took me to a barber she'd always had good luck with and the guy did a nice masc haircut for her but then, when I asked for the same, he made mine "more feminine" as he called it after he'd finished, not having mentioned his decision to do so until then. One guy at a barber near where I used to live would do my haircuts but his colleague wouldn't, he was so uncomfortable any time he saw me and he'd tell me to come back if the other guy wasn't there.

My anxiety is at a high point lately, as you all can tell, and I nearly didn't do it. A new place, new people, maybe they'll Talk to me, maybe they'll be weird... I almost didn't do it, after a terrible night and a tough day of sleep-deprived work.

But I'm glad I made myself go. At a time when I feel like I'm fighting with my body over everything (food, sleep, self-image, you name it), it's good to have something nice happen to any part of my body for any reason. It was nice to be touched in a practical, professional way (makes me think of massage). It's nice to smell good! I love the smell of the stuff in my hair.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

tarasacon

💜💙💜💙💜💙💜!!!

From:

tarasacon

It looks great, btw, in case my hearts weren’t specific enough. *smiley face* :)

And dammit I didn’t think to do an image transcription for the emoticons, and now it doesn’t want to let me edit. My previous comment is a row of purple and blue hearts followed by three exclamation points.

Edited Date: 2022-08-05 10:50 pm (UTC)

From:

cosmolinguist

You can't edit a comment once it has replies, btw.

But thank you, the emojis were clear goeh to see and to convey your happiness. <3

From:

tarasacon

It is *such* a pain to get decent short haircuts. Barbers tend to freak out, female stylists generally insist on “feminizing” it with wispy bits. I’m lucky that Louisville has a barber shop that can cope, but I only got to experience it twice before the pandemic. I miss professional haircuts soooooo much!

From:

cosmolinguist

Yeah it is a bit of a risk me doing this but the door to the barbershop was open the whole time (it was a blustery 70° today so great for temperature and ventilation!), the guy put a mask on as soon as he saw me with one, I didn't even have to ask, and he carefully worked around my mask without any complaint or anything. It felt as good as these things are going to get from a pandemic point of view.

From:

otter

You look great! Very Erik.

From:

cosmolinguist

Thanks! I'm delighted that this seems very me because it also felt very new. :)

$radiantfracture: Beadwork bunny head (Default)$

From:

radiantfracture

Oh damn that is good hair

From:

cosmolinguist

Thank you! I love it so much.

From:

white_hart

That is excellent hair! There does seem to be an increasing number of all-gender barbers which is such a good thing.

From:

cosmolinguist

Yeah it's a shame they don't know to advertise themselves; the ones who are fine are like "of course it's fine! why would it be a big deal?" and I wish they knew to put a sign in the window or something. :)

From:

jack

Oh yay!

From:

forests_of_fire

Very nice!!

From:

lilysea

That haircut looks GREAT! ^_^

I have ***MUCH*** haircut envy!

From:

cosmolinguist

I'd recommend the place to you if it would do any good. :)

From:

lilysea

Yeah, even if I was in the right city/country/hemisphere,
I'm not risking a haircut yet til case numbers go down.

But your haircut looks GREAT, and I wish I could do as good of a job when I cut my own hair ^_^

From:

cosmolinguist

Not risking a haircut is totally fair.

But one of the cool things about this place is that it was recommended to me by a powerchair user, and there's one little step up into the shop so she couldn't get in, so they agreed to do her haircut outside! I was really impressed with that: they're not responsible for the building they rent, but they're doing their best to work around it. And being outside is even better (not perfect, but better, especially with masks!) for covid protections.

From:

barakta

Fantasic hair.

I hate this bullshit about gendering hair. You don't even have to be queer to care, an older (presumed cishet) female friend of mine has had short hair for years and always hates that she's charged more for a lady cut than a man cut when she just wants a short haircut without frills and faff.

Glad hair cutter dude was respectful about masks, how nice to see your mask, recognise that means you're masking and to just quietly get a mask without pushing you to have to ask. Amazing. So thoughtful and suggests that he's good in other ways at listening to what his customers want!

From:

cosmolinguist

always hates that she's charged more for a lady cut than a man cut when she just wants a short haircut without frills and faff.

This was me for years (as soon as I left home and could have short hair at all!). I was so poor and it was so enraging that the haircuts were just gendered rather than being about the time/skills/equipment/whatever it would take to do them.

how nice to see your mask, recognise that means you're masking and to just quietly get a mask without pushing you to have to ask

Yes! I was so impressed with this. The friend who'd recommended them said the staff wore masks so I was a little worried about having to make a fuss because he wasn't when I came in. But it turns out he just wasn't because he wasn't working, and that's fine with me. It's a biggish shop, the door was open because nice day so plenty of ventilation too. And when I asked if it was okay that I wore mine as much as possible, kinda apologizing because it's a faff, he just shrugged and said "We're used to it." :) And not in a grumpy way or anything. It was the attitude I wish everybody had -- "this is just life now."

And he just moved the ear loops when he needed to get at those bits, held on to the mask so it was still covering my face pretty well, and put the loop back over my ear when he was done with whatever he needed to do! Amazing.

From:

lilysea

I hate this bullshit about gendering hair. You don't even have to be queer to care, an older (presumed cishet) female friend of mine has had short hair for years and always hates that she's charged more for a lady cut than a man cut when she just wants a short haircut without frills and faff

Yeah, I'm a cis woman & a bisexual and I just want an easy to care for short haircut

(hand and wrist pain + fatigue = long hair, or even medium length hair, is a bad idea)

and it would be nice if it didn't cost $$$.

Back before COVID existed, I rang my local trendy hipster barber place to see if they'd do my hair

and the woman who answered the phone was all "No... you're A WOMAN... the barbers wouldn't FEEL COMFORTABLE CUTTING A WOMAN'S HAIR"

and she said it in a super judgy, super offended way, like I'd asked her for something obscene/taboo. Still grumpy, it was a super local place to me.