You never think about it until it’s time to get it done, but getting your hair cut in a country where you don’t reallly speak the language is a pretty dodgy proposition.
I never worried about it too much when I was here in the Army. There were barbershops on post and the barbers always spoke enough English to understand how you wanted it cut. And there aren’t but so many ways to do a military hairstyle, so it’s kind of hard to screw one up.
(And even if they did screw it up, most guys wouldn’t complain if a cute chick barber did it, since they thought it was cool to have her playing with their hair. Yo, dumbass! If she screws up your hair, no other chick’s going to want to play with it – not unless you pay her, like you did the barber.)
But since I’m not in the Army anymore, I don’t have that option. I have no choice but to go to a Korean barbershop. At first I was really worried about this, mostly because of the price. No, they’re not overly expensive. Quite the opposite case. A men’s haircut goes for 5,000 won at most places. That’s about $4.25.
Would you trust somebody to do a good job cutting your hair for only $4.25?
I was very skeptical the first time I got it done. I thought, “this chick’s some supertrainee barber and she’s just going to wreck my head.” I explained what I wanted done as best I could, and pulled my hair up straight and indicated where I wanted it cut on each part of my head. She got the idea and did a pretty good job. I was impressed. I did that routine a couple more times, but it got to be a hassle. Wouldn’t it be a lot easier to just show whoever was cutting it a picture, point at it and say, “this style?”
Yes, it would be. And it is.
I’d always forget to take a photo of myself when my hair was looking exactly how I liked it, so I ended up going online to find a suitable picture. I tried a few different styling websites, but they never had anything decent. Everything tended to be kind of buzzcut or some foofy Eurotrash style – neither of which did anything for me. The I thought, “why not use some movie star’s photo?” I mean, there’s bound to be lots of those online, right? And there were. But who to choose. I couldn’t very well walk into a barbershop with a photo of somebody I couldn’t stand. Say you really hated Richard Greico, but liked his hair in A Night at the Roxbury. You couldn’t very well go into a barbershop with his picture. You’d have to kill yourself out of shame and self-loathing, no matter how good your haircut came out. (Just in case he googles himself and comes across this entry, I don’t really have anything against – or for – him. I just chose him to illustrate my point.)
So who did I choose for my celebrity hairstyle photo? I used to always use this pic:
and it did the trick pretty well. Plus, how can you not like Ed Norton. He’s one hell of an actor, and he’s usually got pretty good hair in his movies.This photo has caused some confusion though, since I have to explain that I like this style, but that I don’t care for sideburns. The barbers I’ve used this photo with see it as some holy master plan for my hair. I mean, I went to all the trouble to find it and print it out, so it must be exactly how I want my hair right? No. Learn to be flexible, guys, it won’t kill you. Really, it won’t.
So as much as I like Ed, his photo had to go. But who could take his place?At first, I had no idea. Then I was watching Dark City last night, and it struck me…
He’s always got cool hair, right? (Well, most of the time.) And he’s done plenty of interesting work – Flatliners, 24, the above-mentioned Dark City. I can show his photo and say “this style” with no shame at all!So I went checking around the net and settled on this photo:
Now, I’m not trying to say I look like either of these guys, but they’re both good actors, and they’ve got hair that’s pretty easy to copy. Hell, I can admit that my hairline’s receding. But if these guys can make movies and TV shows with theirs doing the same thing, surely I can deal with my own hair issues and make the best of it, right?Of course I can. And I think the haircut came out pretty well, too. So I’ll tell you what Keifer, you keep doing cool stuff like 24 and I’ll keep asking to get my hair cut like you did in some of your movies? What do you say?Oh, and here’s how mine came out, in case this would seem like one big tease if just rambled on about a haircut and then didn’t show it.
Yes, it’s not exactly like the photo, but it’s still a decent cut.
(And hey! You get to see the magic glasses, the DVD player, Gamecube, iBook and my lunch too! ^.^)