Getting a Haircut

 If I’m in the States and getting a little shaggy, I usually drop by a low-cost barbershop/salon like SuperCuts and get a haircut. No need to make a reservation, I’ll just wait for my turn to have whatever available salon attendant call my name and then sit in a chair for about 10 minutes while he or she trims my hair with scissors, a comb and clippers, maybe making some forced small talk about weather, what I do, etc. It’s a mostly perfunctory activity – basic maintenance to look like a somewhat respectable adult – involving little planning and not something I particularly relish. Here – by the shore, in my coastal Afro-Colombian site – however, I enjoy getting my haircut and actually plan ahead for it (well, as much as one can plan ahead for anything here). And by planning ahead, I mean calling my buddy Yesid to see when he’s not working on a boat, fishing or accompanying his wife on errands in the city and when we can get our schedules to match up for a haircut.

Key ingredients for my haircuts: Two razor blades, my trusty American comb, and a plastic chair.

The scheduled day and time arriving, I’ll grab my comb and swing by a little store to purchase two disposable razor blades (300 pesos each, about 15 cents) before meeting up with Yesid at his house or that of a family member and plopping down shirtless into an empty plastic chair. Placing a razor blade on top of the comb, Yesid will scrape it back and forth through my hair, gradually trimming to a uniform length. After the main work is done, and the razor blade dulled from slicing hair, Yesid will fold it until it snaps in half, then once again, placing the metal discard on a nearby windowsill or tree branch until we’re done for me to throw away (per my request, rather than just throwing it into nearby brush as is the common approach in town). A fresh blade slipped from its paper wrapper, he then goes tends to finishing the edges, trimming my sideburns in the local style.

Working on the top

Making our way up the left side of my head

Client and expert island barber

Not only are razor blades effective at trimming down cutting men’s hair, they are also incredibly wieldy for carving out intricate designs according to customer preference. The month of November, chock full of local festivities, includes a heavy emphasis on really neat hair styles. Last November, Yesid himself had an iguana shaped out of his hair, its two eyes slightly protruding on the crown of his head and a tail coiled around one side of his head. Were my hair the same tight, curly consistency, I would have begged to have him give me that style, even at the risk of having my school principal a little perturbed by pushing the envelope on the school’s dress code.

Getting it done

Whereas I find American haircut small talk excruciatingly uncomfortable, I enjoy the conversation with Yesid. He pleasantly peppers me with questions about the US and regales me with humorous anecdotes of recent events in town. Usually there are a few other young guys hanging around which most likely means them (unsolicited) gregariously teaching me new slang words for male and female genitalia or making fun of each other or me (although I am usually unaware when I am the butt of a joke, the local street vocabulary endlessly replete with words I have never heard before or recognizable words used in a completely different sense). With a razor blade so close to my scalp or face, I’ve never been cut, even though I spend a good chunk of each haircut laughing.

Trimming the edges with the razor

When all is said and done, I try to slip Yesid a $5,000 peso bill for his work, an action that is often rejected. “Don’t worry about it” he says stepping back so I can’t stuff the money into his pocket, already knowing that he won’t accept it directly.Whereas this part of Colombian can easily seem like a place where everyone tries to charge the gringo more, I find it difficult to pay for this service and not out of lack of trying on my end. Last year Yesid studied in a community English class I taught at night so we had an implicit understanding: Since I didn’t charge anything for the class (spending my own money on photocopies and markers), he never charged to cut my hair.No longer in the class this year, he still insists on not charging me for the class or only when he needs it. (“I’m good this week; don’t give me anything. Pay me twice next time instead, otherwise I’ll just spend the money on something unnecessary” he has said to me on several occasions. “But that’s what you told me last time!” I usually protest.)  At least once he would only accept 1,000 pesos for the purpose of buying his infant daughter a fresh diaper. I think the exchange of money just makes him uncomfortable, especially between friends. I would guess that most of the haircuts he gives for free or for whatever loose change the customer has in his pockets at the moment, most of them being friends that lack stable incomes.

Funky island cut: The Nautica logo carved into the back of a teenage guy's head

Funky island cut: I told my friend Julio that with this cut he looked like a watermelon

I get my hair cut about once every other week or every three weeks. It is not uncommon for the men in my town to get their hair cut every week, thereby always looking good for the ladies and ready for any local festivities.

My neighbor Carlitos getting a trim