Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016) – George Jefferson Haircut Scene
Uploaded by Dj Crystal Clear6 on 2017-07-20.
As I walk across the street to go inside the barbershop near Southern Grind, I hear a voice yelling, “Hey, George! George!” I look to see who it is and it is the owner of the shop making fun of my hair. My name is Jerry, but he is calling me George, short for George Jefferson, because most of the hair on top of my head is missing in action.
By now, I have become desensitized to all of the jokes thrown at me. I ignore him and continue walking inside of the barbershop. There my barber has a chair waiting on me. I had called her the night before to setup an appointment.
After five minutes pass by, the owner of the barbershop walks in and greets me with, “How you doing, George?” I correct him by telling him my real name. The joke is not funny to me, just annoying. To me, it’s not a good business practice to make fun of your customer. When the barber finishes my haircut, I handed her $25 and walk out the door with my mind made up to discontinue supporting his business.
It wasn’t always this way. At one point in time, I was able to grow hair on the top of my head. I grew up in the ghetto with hair!
While living in the projects, my mom would cut my hair to save money. She also talked some other poor souls into paying her money to cut their hair. I remember being disappointed at the result but at least she tried her best, right? In addition to selling candy and Dixie cups, this was another income source for her.
When we moved from that environment, my father started taking me to the barbershop every other week. I fell in love with the barbershop because it was entertaining to hear the conversations that took place. People would talk openly about their everyday struggle, sports, politics,and sometimes even personal finance. No topic was off limits. Plus, I could get a fresh razor line that my classmates at school might envy :-).
Those were the good old days, when I was carefree, had a head full of hair, which remained on top of my head, until my senior year of college.
My senior year of college is when my closest friends started noticing that my hair was thinning. Being delusional at the time, I told them they were crazy. One of them even made the dire prediction that my hair would be all gone before I reached 25.
By the time I reached 25, I still had a head full of hair but it was thinning grew worse. I could no longer deny the fact that I was experiencing male pattern baldness.
According to a hair loss article on WebMD, as many as 85% of men will have some sort of hair loss in their lifetime, so I am definitely not alone in my struggle.
Instead of letting my hair go, I tried reviving it. I kept hope alive! You got to have a growth mindset, right?
To revive my hairline, I tried several over the counter products. The two that immediately come to mind are:
- Biotin
- Shampoo
Biotin is a B vitamin that is often recommended to promote healthy hair. I purchased a bottle from Walmart just to test whether it would help my hair grow. After a month of seeing no results, I stopped taking the medicine. It was time to test another product.
The next product I tried was some shampoo that , “For thicker, fuller hair.” I should have know this would not work, but I had nothing to lose. After two weeks of using this shampoo, my hair did not become thicker.
When those two products failed, I discovered something that was guaranteed to work: hair building fibers.
Hair building fibers are used by men and women alike to give the appearance of thicker, fuller hair. According to a description of one of the most popular brands, Toppik, it is “made of natural, colored Keratin protein that is statically charged, toppik fibers intertwine with your existing hair for a completely natural look.”
When I went to my new barber, I requested that he put some of the magical stuff on top of my head. On one particular visit, he took a picture of me to show off his work on Instagram.
While this product work, the dramatic effect only lasted for a couple days. It was a temporary solution to a permanent problem. One I failed to accept. I wasted a lot of dough (gasp, a personal finance nerd wasting money..) being vain.
That’s why after years of trying to fight this male pattern baldness, I have decided to let my receding hairline go and save some dough!
This past weekend, I went to the barbershop and told him to cut all my hair off. To save some money, I will try to cut my own hair from now on. I shared this news with my friends and they did not think it was such a great idea.
They are afraid that I will mess my hair up. However, I think that learning to cut your own hair is a lot like learning to ride a bike. Yes, I may suffer some nicks and bruises on my first few attempts, but I will keep trying to improve each time.
This past year I’ve probably spent somewhere close to $600 on haircuts. Purchasing a pair of clippers and razors to cut my own hair should be a lot cheaper. I am estimating that I can save at least $400 annually.
It may allow me to fly to FI faster than I planned. I have already gotten a few tips from my father, who I inherited this male pattern baldness from (thanks dad!).
His tips were:
- Stay away from the cheap razors because they will cause plenty of razor bumps
- Apply some pure shea butter to your bald head to give it a shiny look
By the way, my father thought this was hilarious. I don’t find it that funny :-).
As human beings, we often struggle to let go of things we feel emotionally attached to. For me, I was attached to my identity as a person who had hair. I was holding on to something that was not growing. Having an abundant mindset was no match for genetics.
I do not know what you are struggling with. But whatever it is, I want to encourage you to let it go and potentially save some dough.
This post was inspired by Cubert at Abandoned Cubicle who recently wrote: Why You Don’t Need a Hair Transplant. In the article, he shares that he considered getting a $10,000 hair transplant but changed his mind. He let that hairline go to save some dough!
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