Getting your hair done is really an achievement. Anyway it goes, it never goes the way you thought, whilst you enter the saloon with numerous ideas, none of them realize. Today was my day to get under the scissors. Believe me, a lot can happen during a hair cutting spree, thats what I have experienced. As I entered the saloon along with my cousin, I realized we would have to wait for another 30-40 minutes to make sure that the barber attends us. This period is the one where you get to know which guy is better at hair, who is the owner of the shop, who speaks a lot, which village/area does the barber belong to, and many other things. In order to get a lot out of them I continuously keep changing my barbers and my saloons, because I know, there is no one to give you a 'perfect' haircut.
When I entered the salon, there were two guys getting their hair, beard etc etc done. Both guys from completely different generations, an oldie approx 55-60 year veteran and other was a 16-18 year old Maharashtrian kid. Dealing with people needs to be learned from the barbers' association. They can guide you, fool you, become your chief hair advisors (CHA's) etc, in short they are versatile. As the pursuit of my hair getting 'successfully done' began, I started observing the old guy working over the oldie's hair and the young guy working on the kid. Here, you can understand the first protocol - Age of Barber is directly proportional to the Age of customer. A customer would always look for the younger guy, because they are not sure whether or not the older one would be able to do their work properly. What if, the old man chops of your ear mistakenly?
Moving ahead, the kid complained about the dandruff problem he was suffering from. Spontaneously, the barber responded that, I have got a shampoo which can surely assist you in getting your problem with dandruff solved. I will get that for you if it is alright with you. The kid was convinced about the idea and extended the conversation by telling him about the shampoo that his doctor recommended for him, which never helped. Here comes the second protocol - The barber understands your scalp better than the doctor. Here he acts as your Chief hair advisor. Continuing from there the barber continuously pitched for his 'all in one solution' shampoo and the guy was continuously sobbing about his problem. After a while when both of them were tired of their conversation a long duration of silence was followed. On the other end both the old guns were quiet in relaxed mode, because there was no point in applying the second protocol there.
Now the second phase of this experience begins where both customers were done and it was our turn. I asked my cousin to go first and get his hair done with the younger barber. The older one exchanged few glances towards me and knew the first protocol well, hence, never pitched for me getting my hair done. Barbers follow all protocols religiously.
After 20 mins of work on my cousin's head he finally gave the opportunity to sit of the 'hot seat' . Before starting to work on my scalp, he requested me to wait for 10 more minutes as he was fasting today. I thought that to be genuine and agreed. Meanwhile, he confessed that the old guy was his father and an employee ditched him a couple of days ago. Here I came across the third protocol - Given a chance to speak, all barbers start gossiping. I was getting impatient while he continued his rest. He resumed accurately after 10 minutes and started. Started off with an advice "Please get you hair shampooed before getting your hair cut. This helps to get rid of dust, oil, dandruff and many other unnecessary stuff which is a roadblock towards the hair cutting process". Luckily, as it was his fast today, he didn't blabber around. 25 minutes of work around and finally he was convinced it was done. I agreed after a couple of picks here and there. I paid him off ASAP and tipped him another 10 bucks for not talking more than expected.
To conclude, barbers are geniuses trapped in bottles. I would post my next atleast after a couple of months..till then..let my hair grow as he has cropped it too much :/
When I entered the salon, there were two guys getting their hair, beard etc etc done. Both guys from completely different generations, an oldie approx 55-60 year veteran and other was a 16-18 year old Maharashtrian kid. Dealing with people needs to be learned from the barbers' association. They can guide you, fool you, become your chief hair advisors (CHA's) etc, in short they are versatile. As the pursuit of my hair getting 'successfully done' began, I started observing the old guy working over the oldie's hair and the young guy working on the kid. Here, you can understand the first protocol - Age of Barber is directly proportional to the Age of customer. A customer would always look for the younger guy, because they are not sure whether or not the older one would be able to do their work properly. What if, the old man chops of your ear mistakenly?
Moving ahead, the kid complained about the dandruff problem he was suffering from. Spontaneously, the barber responded that, I have got a shampoo which can surely assist you in getting your problem with dandruff solved. I will get that for you if it is alright with you. The kid was convinced about the idea and extended the conversation by telling him about the shampoo that his doctor recommended for him, which never helped. Here comes the second protocol - The barber understands your scalp better than the doctor. Here he acts as your Chief hair advisor. Continuing from there the barber continuously pitched for his 'all in one solution' shampoo and the guy was continuously sobbing about his problem. After a while when both of them were tired of their conversation a long duration of silence was followed. On the other end both the old guns were quiet in relaxed mode, because there was no point in applying the second protocol there.Now the second phase of this experience begins where both customers were done and it was our turn. I asked my cousin to go first and get his hair done with the younger barber. The older one exchanged few glances towards me and knew the first protocol well, hence, never pitched for me getting my hair done. Barbers follow all protocols religiously.
After 20 mins of work on my cousin's head he finally gave the opportunity to sit of the 'hot seat' . Before starting to work on my scalp, he requested me to wait for 10 more minutes as he was fasting today. I thought that to be genuine and agreed. Meanwhile, he confessed that the old guy was his father and an employee ditched him a couple of days ago. Here I came across the third protocol - Given a chance to speak, all barbers start gossiping. I was getting impatient while he continued his rest. He resumed accurately after 10 minutes and started. Started off with an advice "Please get you hair shampooed before getting your hair cut. This helps to get rid of dust, oil, dandruff and many other unnecessary stuff which is a roadblock towards the hair cutting process". Luckily, as it was his fast today, he didn't blabber around. 25 minutes of work around and finally he was convinced it was done. I agreed after a couple of picks here and there. I paid him off ASAP and tipped him another 10 bucks for not talking more than expected.
To conclude, barbers are geniuses trapped in bottles. I would post my next atleast after a couple of months..till then..let my hair grow as he has cropped it too much :/
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