Friday, August 1, 2008

The People of State College Part Seventeen: Hawaiian Barber

Note: State College seems so long ago, and I started this post a long time ago. Updates will follow on my current life in New York.

Downtown State College has at least a dozen barber shops, all of which are priced in the seventeen dollar range except one. Haircuts there are given by a female barber from Hawaii for a more affordable $12. At the beginning of my Summer stay I avoided the $12 locale, probably because of elitism. But right before I left I tried it out. She gave a damn good haircut. She told me how she always got threatening phone calls from the other barbers in town. They kept calling and begging her to raise her prices. She said in response she lowered her price to only ten dollars on Sundays and then they stopped calling. She had tons of attitude. For example, I told her the way I wanted my hair cut and she essentially refused and told me she would cut it the way she wanted it cut. But I like the end result. So no complaints. Actually, her husband is a doctor. Thus she really does not need to make all that much money cutting hair. So she is maybe a little selfish charging such a low price. But I don't judge. And she gave such a good haircut that if I ever find my way back to State College(which is looking increasingly unlikely), I will go there again.

Speaking of haircuts, recently I have been going to city college which is uptown(right on the border of Harlem and Washington Heights). Nearby I spied a haircut for only $10. So I tried it out (it was the first since the one referenced above). Because of language barriers, I now have incredibly short hair. End result: I may not be updating my profile picture on facebook for a while.

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