Monday, February 26, 2007

My last trip to that barbershop.

I asked Mrs. Curmudgeon what she thought, and she thought I was way past due. She reminded me that she had told me I was way past due last Saturday, too.

So I got in the car and drove over the river to get my hair cut in a quaint little working class barbershop. No real man really wants to go to some chain for a haircut...you know where the guy cutting your hair is a little too...stylish...and a little too friendly. No man wants to schedule weeks ahead of time and pay $40 for a foo-foo haircut where the whole place is a little too...stylish...either.

So I went to an old fashioned barbershop. I'd been there a couple of years before, and I figured it would be easier to get in and out of there than it would be to drive over to Kansas, and I had another stop north of the river anyways.

But apparently, the old guy in the white smock from the Norman Rockwell painting had since sold out to a couple of women at that barber shop I chose.

Well...ok. The line didn't look too long. And at least the TV wasn't blaring, and there wasn't an issue of Penthouse under the TV (like I noticed on my last trip to the quaint downtown barbershop I frequented a few times, years ago). It's not quite the same, having one's hair cut by a woman who wasn't wearing a white smock and didn't step out of a Norman Rockwell painting, but we must have some commerce in the world as it is...maybe.

Unfortunately, though, I wished the TV had been blaring. The two barber women were talking about their planned Mediterranian cruise, which was a week away. I wondered how they afforded such a vacation, at 12 bucks a head, because I certainly couldn't afford it. But that was none of my business.

And then the topic turned to a particular nude beach on the French Riviera. Apparently, in a whole shop of working-class folks, everyone had heard of this beach but me, and the conversation got lively--not disgustingly prurient, but lively. I wondered if I should walk out, but it was my turn in the chair, and so I hopped up, thinking surely they'd stop.

But they didn't. And I heard the woman cutting my hair tell the other woman that she had told her 16 year old daughter to "get over it and quit being so modest."

Wow.

Maybe a few years ago when I watched more television I wouldn't have been so surprised to hear such a thing come out of a mother's mouth. But believe me, I was surprised.

I did let her finish my head (where else on earth could I have gone to have it finished?) paid with a small, undeserved tip, and got the heck out of there without words, only a slight nod and an insincere smile. I probably should have said something, but I was at a loss. What does one say to such a mother?

I suppose an experience like this is good once in a while, particularly for the head of a family, so long as youngsters aren't in tow. Being in a group of people totally unlike you, socially and religiously, without the boundaries one has in a workplace (at least in my workplace) that keeps things from getting outright raunchy....being in a place like that serves as a bit of a reality check from time to time.

We forget, when we spend our social time with like-minded folks, and when our co-workers tend to practice at least a modicum of discretion, what inroads the Enemy has made, and why it's so important to protect our families from the world out there.

In the meantime, does anybody know of a Catholic barbershop around town?

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Msgr. Blacet goes to a Barbershop that cuts Bishop Finn's hair and any other priest's for free.

I'll see if I can find the name for you.

Unknown said...

Red Bridge Barber Shop

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

In Shawnee I go to Gentleman's West by the Firestone shop at Nieman and Shawnee Mission Parkway. Basically they have 3 barbers (or 2 barbers and a barberette)

Andy is a young guy, probably early 30's to late 20's. Ask for him and he'll take care of you. No dirty mags, but you will find some Popular Mechanics, Outdoor Life, Guns & Ammo, etc... The older gentleman that works there (Bob) is also good, but a little to shaky for me to trust him with the straight razor. The place is classic with 1970's paneling, pictures from the 1960's, hair tonic from the 1950's... I love it.

Schedule late before the class in Merriam and you'll be all set.

Anonymous said...

Mrs. Citizen of Hippo cuts my hair.

For free!

I'm sure she would cut your hair, Curmudgeon, but she might demand a bottle of wine and Mrs. Curmudgeon to help her drink it.

By the way, I understood the meaning of your post as being summarized in the next-to-last line: "...and why it's so important to protect our families from the world out there."

Right on the mark.

Curmudgeon said...

Anon. I deleted your post because I didn't think it was appropriate to provide too much personal detail, but I do want to address your point, i.e., "I think that traditional Catholics, including me at times, are just a little too judgemental...making assumptions and reaching conclusions without having a grasp of all the facts."

How they got to do that cruise wasn't any of my business. I'm not judging them on that.

And I'm aware that many people don't have the fairly well-formed sense of purity that others have. Heck, I didn't always have it, and it isn't anwhere close to perfect with me either, even with four years between me and the TV. But a comment like that, even in jest, about ones' daughter is still...objectively...an outrage and scandal. I'm not being judgmental. I don't presume to know their culpability in such matters, but that doesn't preclude me from commenting on the occurrence, nor from drawing a point about it.

Curmudgeon said...

Wow, Hippo. Mrs. C is impressed. and it's a nice haircut, too. Most of the time, I get a freebie from sister C, who does it for a living and owes me a heap of favors. But once I exhaust my credits with sis, I'll come up your way (or maybe I'll just borrow a cassock and cincture from church and get my freebie at Red Bridge).

Tommy Augustine said...

Great! I agree about the tv part particularly. I've restricted myself to a little sports and selecred EWTN since Ash Wednesday. My perspective seems already to be changing.