Shave and a Haircut-2 Bits

I had not thought of that old expression for a long time-and was surprised that having said it the melody immediately started running through my mind. All of that led me to these very profound memories about haircuts. As I grew up I doubt if I ever sat in a barber’s chair until I got a haircut for my church confirmation ritual when I was I was thirteen.

My father cut my hair and I have good memories of that. He did it out in the back yard next to the wash house. That is where my mother washed all the clothes generated by us 9 kids, all without running water, but with a washing machine and an old style hand turned clothes wringer. I liked for dad to cut my hair, especially during football season. I have these warm feelings of father-son togetherness listening to the radio accounts of the University of Texas Longhorn football games. In the early years they had a great running back by the name of Jack Crane. Later there was Bobby Layne who competed against Doak Walker of SMU. Somehow or other listening to them as dad cut my hair was such a bonding experience that I feel a great warmth just recalling it.

When dad did finally take me to a barbershop it was in Jarrell and the barber was Mr. Kalmbach whose son later married my sister. My guess is that the cost was probably no more than 2 bits, which is 25 cents.

Then I recall my haircuts in Hong Kong. That was a treat. In those days of the mid 1950”s labor was very cheap and I could get that haircut, shampoo and shave all for under US$1.00. But what I remember most was my first experience of having someone shampoo my hair and with that went a long very satisfying massage of the scalp. I remember that it felt so good I decided that it must be sinful for me to enjoy it so much. Those Hong Kong shops were always very clean. A couple summers ago I went to a back alley barber shop in Shenzhen China. My theory is they wanted to show that they were very busy because there was a massive collection of hair that virtually covered the floor of the entire shop!

Now my haircut is by a different barber each time. But they all have a common characteristic. They are the wives or partners of Marines stationed at nearby Camp Pendleton. It seems like the average time for shampoo and haircut is about 8 minutes and it costs what still seems to me be an astronomical price of $20.00. Even so, I tip rather generously because I support our military families and these small tips may help just a little.

There is an often recounted haircut story in our family. When my now deceased brother Harold was in high school at Concordia, Austin, Texas, a boarding school he came home one weekend with a dramatic Mohawk. My Mother whose value system included a very firm “in church every Sunday” mantra, made an exception. She told Harold that there was no way a son of hers would show up at Zion Lutheran Church with that ungodly haircut and she ordered him to stay home. So once again another of mom’s great living principles, namely. “what will people think!” prevailed.

But now I must run get that haircut