Undo

Haven’t posted in a long coz;

 

“…My walks, it gradually seemed to me, were in themselves indicative of some personality failure. I loved the city, was feverishly curious about it all, the lives lived in it, but moved through it alone unconnected           -Time Bends, A. Miller

 

 But, you realize-que sera, sera! You gotta stand up and make that post. So, I come back to muse about some of my fav. things. 

 

Three barbers, two up class barbers and an economy class barber. Spread out in relation to the different activities I get up to. One is in the proximity of Office, so that in the lunch hour I can strut out for a 20minute refresher.

 

 

The other is in the proximity of home. That means that when the weekend bushy feeling gets so overwhelming, I can prop my frame there and get an overhaul. That leaves the economy class barber.

 

 

 He gets to see me when the accounts are really low. He is the relief man, the man that pulls off a good job at the bidding of a few coins.  The reason I get to see the economy barber least of the three is that he doesn’t have some of the extraordinary touch up accessories the up class barbers have. Who can blame me for wanting the good stuff.

 

 

First, there is the cool shaving machines. They give you the soft soothing graze. One almost aimed at making you doze off in reverie. And part of the comfort comes in you not having to stretch your neck in such awkward positions, which would otherwise leave you choking on your own saliva. If the barber wants to shave you from a particular perpendicular view, the chair rotates, and you are angled in, that easy.

 

 

Another manoeuvre comes in the form of fumes and sprays. After washing the clipped hair bits off your head, Sweet smelling oils are rubbed onto it. When they spray disinfectant, it’s not the insecticide smelling type but a rousing aura of jasmine hangs around you. You feel the stings of heaven assailing you, beckoning, enfolding, engulfing one, you would be forgiven for drifting away. The cloud of fume actually makes the mirror view of oneself seem like a materialization of paradise. Cloudy touches around the edges of the head. An airbrushed appearance to brilliance. The perfect scent to walk with to a first date. All part of the glamour of an up class lifestyle.

 

 

Getting a good barber is a life long search. It’s a process that comes after several walks into places that leave you surly and slain, with a raped head, with parallel ruts of gnawed shapes, prongs of pain marking out the points of err, eyes bulging out of their holes to create a naked countenance, and a good case of laughing commentary for your acquaintances.

 

 

In this search, getting the beard cut is disorienting, your head is held out in the angle of a chicken readying for slaughter, eyes fixedly dilating from the bright light bulb to the glossy poster showing Shabba Ranks looking “bad attitude”. Your breath comes in starts and you have to avoid swallowing saliva since the movement of the larynx could mean the blade slicing into your throat. It’s a whole length of time, spent contemplating the gliding movements of the blade grazing along your throat in deep scratchy scrapes to wondering when it could all end so that you could swallow that blob of saliva tickling the edges of your throat.

 

 

Disinfecting the grazed area is an awakening act. The mentholated spirit used is piercing. You jump from the shock of having your skin erupting with expletives. The skin goes taut, eases a little, and goes into shock to collapse useless in a heap of folds that only get relief when the air sifts through it. Tears stream down the face, while the nose brandishes a temperament close to fury/pepper combined. And when you walk out onto the street, the sun casts suspicious shots to dig right at the heart of your boiling head. You have to go back home and wash the head, spray lots of fume to wade off the mentholated spirit that has embedded itself into the skin pores. And wear a cap till your hair grows reasonable.

 

 That’s why I can’t afford to leave my three barbers. And this will be a very long while