Hair Cutting Saloon - Mumbai experience

Cutting saloon - mumbai experience!

When was the last time you consciously decided to change the place where you went for an hair cut?

I often wonder why one person gets habituated to a haircut and that too at the same saloon every time. As long as one is in that city, we end up going to the same fellow again and again. A human nature to get comfortable in doing one thing in one perticular way ( for no logical rhime or reason) and then actuall get offended when one is asked to change the same.

Once you have decided to go to the same saloon, then you have plenty of time being in the Q, waiting for your turn and it was their that i had thought that i am going to put a bolg on this one. The curious you are the better you see thing around you. If i had not thought of putting this bolg, i would not have been so observant..!

The People around:

One gets to see a variety here like no where else. In all other places where a person goes, he takes care that he does not look sleepy, ruffled up etc. This is one place where everyone tries to be his untidy best. if you looks sleepy to the extent drugged, even better. Probably with a hope that the worst looking people will be required to pay less. It is the only place where you can vouch that the people around have not taken a bath for the day. The parlor owner also does not try and disturb the ambiance by spraying a freshener but depends on the automatic contamination of the arderous body odors and the adulterated aftershaves he uses on some of his customers.

It is also a predominantly male bastion as the female parlors have their own space. Though an occasional fair sex visitor puts the entire saloon into an unexplained unease and attention.

The first category are the ones i like the most...the ones who have the least hair to cut. One has to search for the hair, and the saloon manager is very careful in not offending the customer by not making the searching vary obvious. Also is modest on his comments on the luxuriant maintainance of the remaining lonesome tweeks. These are also the most fastidious people on the way they want the cut to happen and look. At the end of the cut they are the only ones who see the difference between what they entered with and what they went out as....!

The second variety is the younger lot. It has nothing to do with age. We can identify the young ones by their behavior. They tend to touch their hair if a style only they can. They are in love with their hair and it shows. The hands and the fingers caress the locks like the beloved and rearrange the prearranged ones. They often hum a recently popular number in a way expressing their love for the locks.

The third variety and i will include myself in that , is the one who is there to get over with the deed. These are the most restless creatures around and feel that it is taking ages for the barber in charge to get rid of the hair and the customers in that order. Their irritation is visible in form of excessive movements of the extremities or unnecessary turning of pages of the local magazine or newspaper. Such people are usually early to come to the saloon. Their irritability is in proportion with the time they reach the parlor and its difference form the peak hours ....more about the peak hours later.

The fourth type is the ones who come for their kids and not for themselves. If its the mom, she is more hassled for the ugly people around her smelling awful....if its the dad then he is oblivious to the way the hair is getting cut and focuses mainly on completing his newspaper reading meanwhile. This lot is usually a non intrusive lot.

The ambiance

The saloons are a reflection of the people who visit them as far as the class and ambiance is concerned. Though the generic nature of people visiting continues to be the same as explained earlier.

The root factor defining the ambiance is the air-conditioning or the absence of it. The second factor is the visibility from outside. Some prefer to show off the clean inside and other prefer to hide their untidy being. I personally prefer the ones who have large glass panels as there is a inherent moral pressure for them to keep the interior clean. The chandu who is responsible for sweeping the floor after evry hair-cut decided the owners inclination to go for large glass panes of the tinted ones.

The bench...the IT guys love it...is the most uneasy one. The proximity of another smelly character sitting so close to you is annoying. This discomfiture is at its peak during the peak hours....

The mirrors and the placement of them make a small saloon look large. The camouflage is apparent only when people around you jostle for space. There are usually flat and large ones on the wall and the angled one showing your unseen side of the moon. It has always baffled me why all the saloons have only one wall which has the mirrors when an alternative arrangement like a restaurant table - with a mirror in between...whould take in more customers in the same space.

The peculiar chairs are the only ones which are changing with time and class of the saloon. The non-air conditioned one still manage to get the rusty ones where the paint has been peeled off. However the wodden ones have been replaced...at least in Mumbai. This does not include the road side hair-cutting....which is not a part of this essay as i have never experienced it myself. Though you can still find quite a few servicing the labor force with the cheapest hair cut.

Usually the floor is tiled...making the cleaning easier for the chandu. Though its annoying to see the saloons having the celieng fan put on...specially during summers....even when the hair move in the air-vortex.

The photographs of different hairstyles is an essential element of the hair styles. I often wonder whether the photos have been doctored as i have never see people except in the holywood movies...who would support such an hair cut. The models who have posed for the photos are the most curious ones and resemble the class of customers who visit the saloon.

There is also a customary "rate card" which blatantly shows the old rates and a correction hastily made in haste and often outdated. They also proclaim the saloons participation in some associations of the barbers who decide the rates...which are never followed.

The commentary ambiance will not be complete till i write on the saloon magazines. They come in all forms and figures...literally. Most of the filmfares i have read in the saloons. The date of the issue is most irrelevant and often has disappeared with the front page itself. The beautiful (read sexy) lasses have their faces stamped with violet ink mentioning the saloons name albit some of the readers take fancy to the faces and takes it away with him. The proof of these fancies is also available in the same magazine where the remnants of the torn pages still proclaim the existence of a sexier damsel there some time earlier. One would thus not blame the saloon owner of tasteless stamping at appropriate places on the pages meant for whetting the appetite of a voyeur.

The Barber himself

This is a changed lot now-a-days. Antithesis to the popular belief he talks very less and specially restricts his conversation to a bare minimum. The talking has been sub-contracted to the new beed of RJ's who keep you bemused with the chatter in the background leaving the barber to concentrate on the job on hand. I hate the places where you have strategically placed small TV sets. They are potential distractions leading to disaster on your face....

The barber has also become very commercial in nature and has started focusing on value added services the proposals for which will be made to you at appropriate junctures. Example is the head massage....onece you are thru with the hair cut he will give you a feel of the head massase with his expert hands doing the rythemic movements on your parched head....just enough for you to be let craving.....then he pops the question...."sir, head massage?"....and invariable you fall prey to the intoxicating precurser he has shown you.....the complete massage although leaves you with the renouned post purchase dessonance.....shit why did i say yes.....

The value added services only makes the barber happy. The waiting bench gives you a look which one can only experience and not explain. Specially because you are aware of the squirming thru the mirror and no direct eye contact is established as your are with your back to them.

The assortment of the toiletries needs a mention here. I have come across brands in the saloon where i wonder how they get them. One never sees them in the stores nor do you find them in any advertisement. Secondly the helping the barber takes from each one of them gives me heartaches if once is to assume that they are to cost the same as the ones you end up buying in the store. Surprising ly they end up seemingly more effective than the brands you buy...The aftershave usually puts me off...as i am sure it is adulterated. They have become clever on the razors and at least make a show of replacing the old one of you.

The feeling

But all credit to the saloon and the barbers there, irrespective of the ambiance and the people you meet and the equipment or services you receive, the feeling you get when you walk out of the saloon is only comparable to the feeling you got when you were getting ready for a date or for your wedding. You feel good, you feel you have suddenly become good looking and the confidence shows on your face. In fact all others are very well gazing at you because you look freshly cut. This dawns on you only when you reach the office and wicked all-knowing glances are cast or so you feel. The light feeling is worth visiting the saloon once a month....and even entertaining if you are observant.