$&%* Barbers

[Lokidude]

I, as a rule, only trust crusty old guys with my hair, because they have a real barber shop, animal heads, sports mags, and understand "high and tight." My buddy's wife is about the only young person (she's 24, I think) that understands what I want and can actually accomplish it. Of course, growing up in small town Utah and practicing on her dad and brothers might have been a bit of a benefit, too.

[Frosch]

Feh. A couple of bucks every few months for ponytail bands and I'm good. When it's down, my hair reaches the bottom of my shoulder blades now. Only down-side is watching out so Eugene doesn't club me in the head with his Garand...

What, you would deny him the training opportunity?

[Steamforger]

Back in the day, I used to go to this little place downtown next to the tracks. 2 old guys, an ancient coke machine, field and streams going back several hundred years, and the old western style swinging doors to get into either of the chairs. These guys could do a high and tight in about 10 minutes with as much or as little conversation as you care for. One of them had a framed picture of his brother in full flying gear, standing in front of a P-38 with two swastikas painted on the nose. I really loved that place.

The owner's health begin to fail, and the owner's daughter (IIRC) tried to keep it going, but it just didn't have the steam at that point, and I moved shortly afterwards.

It became a small, boutique shoe store some time ago.

Luckily for me, there is an honest-to-god barbershop on Grand River in East Lansing, right across from the U. A real barbershop that's conveinently located. It's a good thing!

[mekender]

My first haircut was done at a place called Yates Barber Shop on Goldenrod road in Orlando... Yates originally opened in 1938 to service Orlando Army Air Base which later became McCoy AFB... Later it served the cadets at NTC Orlando... Both bases have gone by the wayside, but the barber shop is still in business, albeit at a different location.

The last time I was there, there were two old timers there cutting hair... one had "US NAVY" tattooed on his bicep, the other "US ARMY"... It is a safe bet that they both got those tats in WWII.

Generally you had two options for a haircut, crew cut and a buzz cut...

http://www.yatesbarbershop.com/

[Denis]

Ah, the eternal question. I had a good barber in Dublin, then I moved away. While I was a peniless student, I went to the Turkish / Moroccan guys down the road, who were fine. In Germany, I had a real barber around the corner, who then retired. Now I've found a "salon" run by another real barber - a gentleman of central-European extraction, also of retirement age. I think he enjoys my haircuts as a break from the ladies' "salon" business. He gives me a short-back-and-sides and we talk about golf.

The day is coming when I'll adopt Chris' solution - buy a decent clippers and do it myself. The hair is thinning and receding naturally, anyway. I'll just have to talk Mrs Denis into doing the fiddly bits I can't see at the back of the neck...

[Cybrludite]

Feh. A couple of bucks every few months for ponytail bands and I'm good. When it's down, my hair reaches the bottom of my shoulder blades now. Only down-side is watching out so Eugene doesn't club me in the head with his Garand...

What, you would deny him the training opportunity?

I just wouldn't want him to break the Garand.

[SeekHer]

Feh. A couple of bucks every few months for ponytail bands and I'm good. 8-) When it's down, my hair reaches the bottom of my shoulder blades now. Only down-side is watching out so Eugene doesn't club me in the head with his Garand... :lol:

What, you would deny him the training opportunity?

I just wouldn't want him to break the Garand. :mrgreen:

My hair is also somewhat "longish" and can't begin to tell you how many times my hair has gotten French or any other ethnicity of braids, ponytail(s), I've even had the girl's practice putting rollers on, me the quiet daddy guinea pig, stoically persevere and record the incident in the "BooK" for later action of extreme embarrassment whilst with her friends, mall, cute boys or other scenarios…

My amount of haircutting is negligible so whenever it has to be done so I’m informed, something about "split ends" my most significant other or one of the kids (equal but lesser others) will touch it up...I got an electric Pro clipper set from when my uncle passed on about 6 years ago, made sometimes in the late 1960s and any vestiges of the name have long since been worn off, I use that to trim the neck and cheeks of my full beard...

[chrisb]

Chris, do the different blades cut the same length as using the guards? I prefer a #2 all over, and was wondering if the #2 blade by itself would accomplish this. Amazon has a deal on the 76 and a t edger for about $20 more.

[MarkD]

Take Chris' advice, but you don't need to spend that much for a start. I also have a comb device that uses double edge blades to comb thru my hair and even it up.

I've tried every single clipper etc... out there; and the only thing that stands up to my hair without eventually breaking, and cuts with any reasonable speed; is a professional clipper setup.

I've gone through I don't know how many $70 clippers; and they all turn out to be junk. If you want it to last, you have to get the real thing, which runs about $120, plus accessories.

Chris speaks truth. I don't cut my own hair (although I've threatened to), but after throwing away my third beard trimmer in about eight years (at $75ish each) I decided to do it right. The guy who cuts my wife's hair recommended an Oster (forget which model number) with spacers and I've been using it now for about two years, still going strong. It'll probably outlast me.

[SoupOrMan]

I cut my own hair for most of the time that I lived in the suburbs of Chicago, as I was trying to cut down on expenses. I kept doing that for about the first six months when I moved back downstate. Then I went back to a local barber I'd gone to since I graduated from college. He understands terms like "day one" and always manages to get the stuff that I'd usually miss the first time when I cut my own hair. It's worth the expense for me, and it gets me out of the office.