While in the Yak, I decided to have a real community experience and get a haircut. This is something I've only ever done once before and that was in Oakland where I was confident barber would be equally as skilled or not better than barbers in my hometown of Seattle.
I consulted Yelp and found a few possible candidates and most surprising was the fact that the top two places that appeared to specialize in black hair were closed on Saturdays. I get wanting the weekend off, but I suspect Saturday are historically the busiest days for barber shops. I chose this place because the barber does designs. I haven't had a design in my head for about 15 years, maybe more, but that takes some skill.
When I walked in, I asked about the wait and the barber told me he was done with the guy in the chair and that he thought it would be about 30 to 40 minutes to get to me, I literally had that to spare, so I agreed. That said, he proceeded to spend about another 15 minutes on the guy in the chair. He also told me that he had two heads in front of me, but it ended up being 3.
I am particular, especially when it comes to barbers, this is your business, you know your base and you know how long it takes to to cut a regular. I ended up waiting almost 90 minutes because he wasn't honest with his assessment. He also took way too much time talking up moms. If you are talking, you are not cutting. I'm not telling you to be silent, but do the real conversating between cuts, unless you are checking it to see if everything looks ok. That time should be dedicated to the person in the chair and if for no other reason that saying you are going to cut two less heads a day by talking too much consider this. That adds up to about $1,250 a month, and that is the difference between a car that's always n the shop or a reliable roller. The difference between living somewhere with too many locks and somewhere where it's not needed, or the difference between quality clothes and thrift shopping.
The guy was plenty nice, I just thought he was too lackadaisical about his business. My haircut was passable, but not impressive. Black hair is a different skill set and I don't believe he gets enough practice, there was no fade or taper to my cut and with everyone in the shop not looking like me, it appears whatever limited black population in this town uses the shops that are open during the week.
I think this guy is talented, but he wouldn't be my choice if I lived here. In Seattle, there is a place called Rudy's. Started out as a small independent spot, then blew up. After more than 20 years there are only a few locations left, because the place was what I call an imitation barber. They specialized in buzz cuts that made whit guys look aggressive or like athletes, but they made a mess of Ethnic hair.
This guy didn't make a mess and I'm willing to bet if he was in Seattle, he would quickly increase his skill set, but he wasn't prepared to impress me. I'd probably give him 4 stars in general, but I'd be closer to 2 stars for ethnic hair. So I'm giving 3 stars to split the difference. read more
