Don't Cut My Hair

I have bad hair. It has been bad my whole life, and there isn't much I can do about it. My hair grows unevenly and sticks up wherever it wants unless I force it down with extra super hold products and a stern talking-to.

It logically follows that my hair is also hard to cut. It needs to be helped out by the barber or my bad hair is made worse. I have to have someone who knows what they are doing. But I am also cheap. All of these factors do not mix well together.

My mother used to cut my hair when I was younger and that was just fine with me. But my first try as a grown-up was Philip Pelusi in downtown Pittsburgh. I worked nearby and it was very convenient to go there on my lunch break. Unfortunately it was very expensive (see "I am cheap") and my company soon moved out of downtown.

My next try was the ever popular SuperCuts. The first time I visited I actually got a good haircut for half the price of the first place. That luck would not last, however, since their company policy is to not have appointments. You just get whatever stylist happens to be available. My second cut looked like I caught the business end of a weed-whacker with the top of my head. But subsequent visits brought somewhat better results, and the price was right for me.

Then someone burned the place to the ground. And that began the legacy of how my bad hair has had a bad effect on any place that has agreed to cut it.

Since the smoke and water damage had shut down the SuperCuts until it (and some of the adjoining businesses) could be completely gutted and rebuilt, I had to search for someplace new.

A few people referred me to Mimi's, a small independent salon with only a few employees. The location was pretty hard to get in and out of, but I got an ok haircut for a reasonable price. Can you guess what happened next? Upon hearing that she was being let go, one of the stylists went crazy. She broke things, spilled expensive products all over the salon and stabbed leather haircut chairs with metal haircut scissors. In the next few weeks Mimi's went out of business and the building went up for sale. It is still empty.

I had to move on yet again. This time I thought I try somewhere convenient. Lucca's was located in a new shopping area close to our house and was only a minute walk away from the new supermarket that we frequented. My first haircut was amazing. But that stylist went on maternity leave and I had to search for another.

Well, I've been through 3 since then and I could probably have done a better job myself with a Flowbee. But the first stylist is finally back from having the baby. It may be months before she has an opening for an appointment, but I have decided that I will wait however long it takes to have her cut my hair.

That is until I walked past the salon yesterday. It is gone. Only an empty building and an "Available" sign mark where my hair used to be cut.

I can't say that I'm surprised. My hair and I knew it was just a matter of time.