Hair Cut

I got a hair cut today. It was out of control. I haven't had one in about 6 to 8 months. My hair hasn't been that long since I was in college. My wife had never seen my hair so long, ever. She liked it. I hate to disappoint her, but I couldn't stand it any longer. I shaved my goatee, too. Hot classrooms convinced me that it was time.

A weird thing happened at the Hair Cuttery today. The young lady who cut my hair immediately looked familiar. I am terrible about names, but good at recognizing faces. I knew that she had been a student at my school, and I also knew she wasn't one of my former kindergarten students. Having been a teacher for 17 years you see a lot of students who have grown up, but I didn't want to bring it up because it always makes me feel old.

After the normal small talk, she figured it out and was thrilled to see me. Sharde is her name and she last went to my school about nine years ago. She was completely thrown off by my freaky look. I think she actually enjoyed returning me to my normal state of appearance.

We caught up on all the teachers she remembered and she told me about her friends who were now adults, with children and real life problems. One of her friends is pregnant by a guy who is probably going to be locked up for a long time on an accessory to murder charge. Sad, but life is like that. I often forget that in the protected little world I have worked so hard to create.

I never really knew her as a child, but listening to her tell about her life and her friends made me feel happy for her that she turned out to be such a nice person. It also made me feel sad for all the tough things that life throws at you. I just wanted to run home and hug my kids and force them to stay small and protected forever.

She is now my new favorite hair person. I didn't have one before, but I do now. She is trying to get her first apartment. Turning on the power and the cable today. I remember how hard that was when I first got my own place. I hope she makes herself a happy little place in life.

Funny things about hair;
People treat you differently when you appear to be unkempt. When I am clean cut, people don't try to ignore me as much, and they more easily accept me as an authority figure. I know this is not a new idea, but when you experience this in interactions with people it adds to the impact. I try to always refrain from judging people based on appearances. Clothes, hair, and all the other external things matter little. Except body odor, then I just back up a little when talking to them. Smelly people can be nice too.

My upper lip actually feels lighter without the moustache. Strange.

With my hair cut and no goatee, my eyebrows now look completely out of control. Like funky caterpillars that fell asleep over my eyes. Straight fuzzy dashes. But really, what can a man do about eyebrows? Wax them? I don't think so.

Why does hair grow on your ears? I hate that. I will yank those things out as soon as they pop up. Cutting them never helps. When I rip them out I hope I might get lucky and destroy the root. Every time I see really old guys with super hairy ears it freaks me out. I can barely maintain eye contact, I get paranoid and I have to check at the first private mirror I cross and make sure I am not sprouting any "curb feelers." I don't think I have a weird ear hair fixation or anything, but I might be a bad judge of my own idiosyncrasies.