Hair today, gone tomorrow

Inflation is when you pay fifteen dollars for the ten-dollar haircut you used to get for five dollars when you had hair. ~Sam Ewing

Yes, I got a haircut tonight. And yes, I'm losing my hair as well, but that's not what I'm here to talk about, because the world doesn't need another balding man crying about the cards life dealt him. It's just hair. Get over it and move on.

What I want to talk about is tipping your hairdresser, or barber, or stylist, or whatever it is you call your particular hairperson (I call mine Aimee, because that's her name, but that may not work for you). Tipping for a haircut bugs me. Now don't get me wrong - I'm not one of those cheap bastards who doesn't like to tip. No, I spent years as a waiter, and so I'm a fat tipper who never thinks twice about it. In restaurants. For a haircut, though, it's a bit of a different story.

First of all, as far as I know there's no "accepted" tip scale for haircuts like there is for food. And there really can't be - I've known (and continue to know) a few people in my life who cut hair for a living, and some of them have made crappy wages and relied a lot on their tips while others have made a pretty good salary and so their tips are really just an extra unexpected bonus. So that makes it a crapshoot to begin with. I don't want to be thought of as cheap (especially by a cute girl/fun friend/good kisser like Aimee), but I also don't necessarily want to throw a wad of money at someone who's already making a lot more than I am when they just spent about 5-10 minutes on me (I'm a no muss, no fuss hair guy). You know?

Then there's the fact that no matter how good your particular person is, they just flat will not do your hair the same way that you do. So when you look in the mirror after getting it cut, you're not really seeing what it's going to look like the next morning when you climb out of bed, shower, and do it yourself. What looks great when they do it may not look so hot when it's up to you and your mirror - or, conversely, what you may not think looks that good upon getting out of the chair may be perfect once you fiddle with it yourself.

But the kicker is this - your hair never looks its best right after a haircut anyway. A haircut is just one of those things you have to grow into a little bit, unless you're rich enough to get it cut exactly the length you want it and keep going back every week or two to maintain. Which most of us aren't. So if you're trying to tip based on how good a job they did, it's hard to judge. Well, maybe if you have long hair it's easier, because an inch more or less isn't as noticeable as it is on a short-haired guy like me. But in my case, I see it as being a lot like tipping your server before your food even comes - you kinda have an idea what to expect, but you just don't know for sure.

Thankfully, I know the girl who does my hair pretty well - which you might have guessed from the "good kisser" comment - so right now it's something I don't really have to worry about. It's just something that was on my mind on the way home tonight, so I thought I'd share. Which I have. Now if you'll excuse me, me and my itchy neck have a date with the shower.