Hair

Hair. Let’s talk about hair. More specifically, haircuts. There are two things I have to say about them.

First of all, I want to talk about the Black Barber Shop, as I like to call it. It was in Ewing. The best haircut I ever received was there. It was a little more expensive than the places back home, but I needed a haircut. This was back when my hair was longer. The barber shop was the only one somewhat within walking distance from TCNJ (still half an hour though). When I entered it, well, quite frankly, my heart skipped a beat- literally. Everyone in the shop was black males. There were many patrons, too, so the wait was about an hour (apparently they were a really good place, and took their time and care with their cuts). I was very disconcerted, being the only white female there. Then, I came to a realization: is this how black people feel when they end up in a room full of white people, which often happens in many schools? I was shocked. Never before had I realized how they must feel; I had simply never even thought about it. They were really nice to me, too, which would rarely ever happen in the reverse situation, with one black and the rest white, which extremely surprised me, as well. I was very pleasant, though, so that may have helped, although I was obviously a bit weirded out by the experience, so they were sympathetic, too, it seemed. The haircutter even gave me a discount! So it was a bit of a strange experience, yes, but very insightful and rewarding in retrospect.

The second hair cut experience, or rather, experiences, since it happened more than once, related to me short hair. When I first got it cut so short, the barber did not want to do it. She said my hair was too pretty to cut it that short. I insisted, however, so she did it; but still not as short as I would have liked, and left it more “feminine;” that was not what I wanted at all, being genderqueer. I wanted a boy’s haircut, and I told her this. Yet the next barber did the same thing, when I went a month later to get it cut again (short hair grows much more noticeably than longer hair). She said, “You want it wispy in back, more feminine, like a pixie cut, correct.” It was a statement, not a question. I told her, “No. Shave the back; use the razor. I want a boys cut.” She reluctantly did it, but still left it to what she considered a bit more feminine than a boy’s cut and longer on top rather than all even, as I had asked. I ended up trimming it myself later, luckily managing not to mangle it too much. I am going for a haircut again soon, too, since it once again needs trimming… I hope this time they accept my desire to have a more boyish cut.