I got bored in college and wrote this.
Sometimes when you get a haircut it goes terribly, ruining your self image and breaks your perception of how attractive you think you are. Sometimes that haircut goes really well, and you get a cocaine-like euphoric high as your self image is not only reinvigorated, but brought to new heights. You either feel like a Goldman Sachs finance employee after he just sniffed a line parted by his American Express platinum credit card, or you feel like a shattered junkie overdosing on fentanyl to escape the world once and for all.
Haircuts are an important part of the human condition. A quintessential aspect of how you perceive yourself in modern times, we all share the experience of taking the chance to redefine how we emotionally interpret ourselves. It then consequently feels like a sharp stab in the back, a cruel and deep betrayal when you go to a barber to redefine yourself and leave with a shattered visage.
For many, including myself at one point in time, it felt as though we were stuck in an abusive relationship we couldn't get out of. As if we were a girl with a snapscore of two million with undying loyalty for a man that beats her up at least thrice a week, it felt as if we were walking on eggshells when it came to haircuts. The lack of communication, the silent mistakes gone unacknowledged, the cold and awkward interaction between client and barber all convey the lack of trust and respect in a morally dubious institution filled with individuals that treat a sensitive and fragile likeness like a canvas that permits all sort of mistakes.
12Pell sets itself apart in a vast sea of uncertainty and implicit cruelty seen in many New York barbers. Like finding god in the middle of a bushwick club full of liberal arts majors, 12Pell stands as the antithesis that breaks the stigmas and beliefs towards hair-styling institutions for the silent victims of hair cut too short, un-proportional, or misshapen.
12Pell is like the therapist that teaches you to trust, the father figure you never had, the family that's always there for you. 12pell invests in you, the client, correcting the mistakes that many in the industry make. A service that sits you down, communicate with you, teaches you, and cultivates your image through preparation, commitment, and effort, it sets itself in contrast to the many flimsy and shady practices of the industry. An appointment at 12pell feels more as a meeting with an artistan rather than one that has you depend on circumstantial availability, a cold and efficient service that only respects your place in line.
I give 12pell five stars not for being an excellent service, but for showing me that there is more to haircuts than a crushing rollercoaster that starts with anxiety and ends with crippling embarrassment and the destruction of self esteem. 12pell has shown me that there is more depth to barbers as a concept, and that while needing to be sought after, reliability, trust, and connection is possible amidst the cruelty and warping of intentions beholden in self-proclaimed re-invigorators of image holding scissors with an unsteady hand. read more