The hairdresser conundrum

It is a fact that one’s life revolves around or depends on certain people in one’s life. And I always thought that these people would be one’s parents, partners and close relatives and friends. And I rather naively assumed that these would be the only people on the list. I was proven wrong – and quite harshly.

It began with me noticing that my hair had grown a lot and were in dire need of a haircut. I decided to get a haircut at my regular hairdresser. He had been my hairdresser for the past 20 years, right from the initial days of primary school. He had seen me grow up, seen me progress from the regular short hair to fashionable hairdos and beard trimmings. He would chat with me while his scissors worked through my hair, and would share an anecdote or two while his razor got my beard back in place. Getting a haircut from him was a very organic experience. He was an old-school hairdresser who never used fancy instruments. A comb, a pair of scissors and a fresh blade were his only tools. His shop had a very homespun vibe which reminded me of the simple and warm days of childhood.

Therefore, when I decided to pay him a visit this time, it came to me as a rude shock when I found out that he had closed his shop and shut down his business. They say that one never realizes the value of something until it is gone. I was decidedly disappointed to see the place that I considered to be a relic of my own past had been wiped out of existence. A brand new realtor’s office had replaced it. What happened to the
hairdresser’s shop? I tried to ask around but received no concrete answers. Maybe he had retired; after all, he was over sixty years of age. Maybe he was forced to close shop due to financial constraints. I will never know. But the fact remained that I did not have a hairdresser anymore.

So, keeping my disappointments aside, I started to find a replacement. How difficult could it be to find a decent hairdresser? Well, as it turns out, it is indeed very difficult! This is where I really understood the importance of my hairdresser. All the new ones I tried either lacked basic hairdressing skills or charged exorbitant prices to cut a few strands of hair. That’s when a realization dawned upon me.

We usually tend to take for granted the seemingly unimportant people in our lives. People such as the house maid, the cook, the hairdresser, the security personnel are usually present in the background of our lives, and are unfortunately met with our usual nonchalance. I am not saying that this is our fault; in the breakneck pace of our lives it is genuinely difficult to keep track of everyone around us. And the loss of these “little people” is felt only when they are absent. In my case, the effect is distinctly visible. The disheveled hair and unkempt beard speak for themselves!