A Close Shave

(Dave here)

Almost as soon as we set up shop in Lyon I set out to get a haircut. Because of the holidays and the travel, I hadn't gotten around to it. Fortunately I saw a place near my bus transfer that offered a cut, a wash, and something-else-that-I-can't-figure-out all for 10Euro (about $14). Sounds like a deal. So after work I stopped in. The place is packed! An arab couple are cutting hair furiously as I take the last available waiting chair. Looking around at the waiting guys, I notice something disturbing. All their hair is shorter than I like my hair AFTER it's cut. Maybe they are already done? The guy in the chair has started with hair shorter than Joe Steele and the barber starts cutting his hair to the length of 3 day beard stubble. The top half is left longer and the bottom half is just, well, stubble. THEN he cuts the top half to the same length! Aah! What's going on here? Customer after customer get in the chair and leave with variations on stubble or barely-there hair. Maybe a local gang came in together? More customers come in and they all look like they had their hair cut this morning and they are back for more. It's not a gang. There are young and old men all turning their heads into sandpaper. I'm squirming in my chair. What have I gotten myself into? I had practiced saying "Cut my hair somewhat short." Now I think I need to say "Cut my hair really long!"

The woman motions me to the chair. Well, this is it. I'm not going to back out now. It's only hair for goodness sake, I can always wear a hat until the baldness goes away. Perhaps she sensed my fear or perhaps it is because I carefully avoided any word that could be confused with "short" or "close" or "shave" but I got a good haircut. I don't know what they or the other customers thought. Probably something like "Crazy foreigner! Look at that long hair. He'll be back tomorrow!"