Barbershop Dreams

Time for a hair cut. I finally braved the cold yesterday and went to the barbershop. My favourite barber still had the same chair so I peeled off the two layers of cover-ups and sat down.

Barbershops are short term holiday resorts for the majority, which is basically poor. They cannot afford little jaunts to the Philippines or Trinidad and Tobago, so they lean back on barbershop chairs and dream about blue skies and blue seas.

Business has been slow because of the early snow, said the barber as his shaver zoomed out my hair that looks like lentils. Make that black and gray lentils. I could relate to that because I didn’t cut my hair for four months, due to precarious road and pavement conditions.

If business is slow, how do barbershops manage? I banished tourist spots from my mind and tried to calculate their expenses. Somebody pays the rent but how? Yes, the shop is in an ideal location, on the bus route for eight buses, but that doesn’t help if buses run empty because of the cold.

From the little I know about barbershops, the 15 chairs are rented business premises for 15 barbers. Fewer customers means less income, so how will my barber pay rent to the barbershop landlord? How about tools? I guess he buys his own shavers and hair supplies.

Do barbershop owners go on vacation? Probably not. They are like billions of people, who dream about it while having a hair cut.

Question. What is your favourite barbershop movie?

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.