Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

"So we say, grow your hair for peace" - John Lennon 

As I sat down to wait my turn at the barber shop, I was somewhat amused to see a man having a 'trim' when his hair was already very short. I mean it was about an eighth of an inch long. Why would he need a hair cut? He must really enjoy the whole experience, I thought. I, on the other hand, generally don't like having haircuts. I end up postponing it often and then I start looking a little grungy and unkempt. It eventually gets to a point when I must get my hair cut. And, unlike David Crosby who felt very strongly about it (you can listen to him sing 'Almost Cut My Hair'), I end up getting a haircut.

This dislike of haircuts probably goes way back. When I was young, I dreaded the hand-held trimmer that the barber used to shear my locks. He would have my head in a vise-like grip and run the trimmer up and down and left and right with absolute abandon. Sound technique if you are mowing a lawn perhaps, but not for cutting hair. This trimmer (I am sure many of you will remember it) was not electric but mechanical and had a jerky motion. It was utterly unpleasant.

The best haircut in my opinion is one which leaves you looking like you had not had a haircut at all, but nevertheless does some trimming in the right places. This was all but impossible when you were young and accompanied by a parent when you went to the barber shop. Your father invariably wanted your hair cut very short. Even if he was not there, the barber himself made it his mission to cut it short over your protests. After all, you were not the one paying him. The result was you came out looking like a freshly shorn sheep.

A good haircut has been mostly elusive through my adult life as well. I feel very few barbers and stylists understand my hair. This is perhaps the reason I never like having a haircut. All the same, I cannot completely avoid it. While I am all for world peace, I cannot follow Lennon's advice even if I wanted to. You see, now that my hair has thinned considerably, it is even more important to have regular haircuts. It sounds counter-intuitive, but if you have thinning hair and a bald patch, you will understand. It is more difficult to cover up a bad haircut (or bald patch) if you don't have enough hair in the right places!

It seems that when you start losing hair from your head, hair around your earlobes and in your nose seem to take up the void. This is the way of the world, I guess. What you don't want you will get plenty of and what you do want will be hard to come by.

My hair started turning grey fairly early - around forty. I could never bother with dyeing my hair. It seems to be too much work. About all I can do is to run a comb though my hair in the morning. But when the first silver threads made their appearance, it was with some sadness that I greeted them. And when I got used to these pioneers and their tribe increasing merrily, I was comforted to note that the problem would go away eventually anyway because I was also beginning to go bald! The race has been going on for a few years now. Whether all my hair will turn grey before falling out seems to be an even bet. And I am not going to lose my hair over - well, you know what I mean.

(Picture courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Manual_hair_clippers.JPG)