The regular guy

Today, I went for a haircut. There are probably 6 or 7 barber shops near my house. Due to the competition, the various barbers charge you RM7 per haircut for an adult and RM5 per haircut for a child. I’ve always been proud of this distinct advantage we guys have over women. Our clothes and shoes are generally more expensive than those of women’s. However, try and tell me where a lady can get a decent haircut for RM7? Nowhere I tell you! For us guys, it’s always a barber. For ladies, it’s a hairdresser. The term itself denotes a higher price for services. Anyway, something totally pointless to be proud of isn’t it?

You see, I have a regular guy who cuts my hair, say once in three weeks or so. At least three weeks ago was the last time I had a haircut. So today before making my way back to JB, at about 3 pm, I went to my regular guy. Only to find the shop’s closed. Not closed as in closed for the day, just for a while as the shutter is still ajar. Probably the guy went for his Zuhur prayers or is just out for lunch. The thing is, I have this practice of taking a short nap before starting my drive back to JB. It’s just to freshen my senses up before going for the 300 km plus drive. So as I thought I wouldn’t have the time to get my nap (and knowing that there are a few other barber shops around) I just went to the nearest one.

Note to self: If you’ve got a regular guy, stick to your regular guy. To be fair, I didn’t get my hair butchered or anything like that, but I was left unimpressed by the end result. You see, as I said, I went to another barber as opposed to waiting for my regular guy to return. I got the usual question from the new guy on how I would like to have my hair cut. So I told him I just came in for a trim. He replied with, “Jadi yang standard lah ya?”. Therein lies the point of not going to your regular guy. I had no idea what “standard” was going to look like. Would “standard” be number 1? Number 2? For those who are unitiated in the fine art of the male haircut, number 1 means at the end of said haircut you’re just going to have 1 inch of hair for number 1, and 2 inches for number 2 and so on.

I was thinking, my regular guy never had a “standard” before. Just imagine putting your future (at least for 3 weeks until the hair grows) in the hands of a guy who’s not your regular guy. I was terrified if I’m being honest. So the guy started with the thing barbers use to cut your hair with. Not scissors. They use the electric-powered thing nowadays. Can’t really remember what they’re called. Anyway, he started to take away huge chunks of my hair off (can you call them “chunks” of hair? Must be my off day). All my fears were realised.

While he was doing his job, this particular thought keeps playing in my mind – what part of “trim” doesn’t the guy understand? I honestly thought “trim” was part of barber jargon. Unless I’m totally mistaken, “trim” means cut just a bit of hair, not huge chunks (again with the chunks). My regular guy understands “trim”. I’ve always said that to him and my haircuts turned out just fine every time.

I don’t think people will be looking at my hair and sniggering behind me tomorrow. Far from it. But as always, what matters is how you feel about yourself isn’t it? I know for sure this feeling will be gone probably the moment I wake up tomorrow morning, but the niggling regret of not going to my regular guy will linger on for some time. I’ll gladly sacrifice some nap time (not all) in order to go to my regular guy the next time I need a haircut. And I’ll try to ask him his name this time rather than referring to him as “my regular guy”.