snappy answers to obvious questions

[calimac]

"You got your hair cut!"

1. No, I got all of them cut.

2. Oh, so that's what that guy was doing!

A more challenging thing to answer is the barber's question, How long do you want it?

I've taken to saying that I want the hair by the earlobe to be as long as will take it up to the earlobe but no further; I don't want it over the ear. And the same length all the way around.

I have no idea how else to say it. I can't estimate inches off, which they sometimes want to know, and in any case hair on different parts of the head grows at different rates, so it can't be consistent.

Often I have to give my answer two or three times. Yesterday I had an inexperienced barber and had to say it about 15 times. Even then he didn't do it right. No, the hair is still going over the ear. See? It needs to be shorter than that.

Eventually I got a satisfactory haircut, but this is why I find barbering such an unpleasant experience.

Comments

[cmcmck]

I'm easy as they know I dont want it cut at all apart from trimming split ends and as for style, straight and sleek, so warm up the straighteners! :o)

[sturgeonslawyer]

"How long do you want it?"

"Until I go completely bald."

[wild_patience]

It looked shorter than normal to me when you got home.

[ethelmay]

You might want to take some pictures and bring printouts next time. That gets around any inconsistencies in terminology (e.g., does "over the ear" mean "above the ear" or "covering the ear"), and visual presentation usually works well for people who cut hair (who are almost always better with visual info than I am).

[athenais]

Haircuts are generally hard to explain so I always take a photo (on my phone, in my case) to show the stylist what I want. Once I have an established relationship with them and they have figured out where the cowlicks and waves are in my hair I stick with that stylist until the heat-death of the sun. It's such a drag trying to train someone else.