Last week I read this article by Dave Alexander for Associated Content and just started laughing because this has probably happened to many a stylist or barber. This is the start of his experience.  I was recently facebooked (can that be used as a verb?) by Steve, an old client who had a funny first haircut with me about 15 years ago. When Steve came into the barbershop, he was a landscaper at the time, very tan with a bushy head of brown hair.  He sat down in my chair and said, “high and tight, please.”   This, in my mind, was a bit of a dramatic change so I asked him, “Are you sure?”  He replied that he was, so I picked up a pair of clippers, adjusted the blade to the shortest setting, and ran it straight up the side of his head, leaving a two inch wide path of skin as white as a porcelain sink.  As if I’d stabbed him in the temple, Steve clutched the side of his head and exclaimed, “What the (expletive) are you doing?  Are you nuts?”  Steve, it seems, didn’t really know what a high and tight haircut was and I didn’t take the time to explain it to him.  Assuming he knew what he wanted, much to his surprise, I just started mowing his hair off.  Of course, I had no option but to finish the haircut.  Steve left the barbershop a bit shell shocked and looking a little funny with shiny bright whitewalls contrasting his tanned face.  

He and I both learned a lesson that day…before you start a haircut make sure the barber and client are on the same page.  There are great galleries of men’s and women’s hair cuts on the internet.  If you are a client with a particular style in mind, print a picture of that style. 

Most salons have a computer to pull up certain hair styles so each client can leave with the style they want.  Steve actually did come back for another haircut.  He sat down and the first words out of his mouth were, “high and tight, please.”  He still wears a high and tight to this day.  

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