Haircut (2)

After that time, I never went to a hawker market for a haircut. Before long, the entire market was leveled.

Cutting hair as a treat is difficult for me to understand. The classmates around me are more and more fond of shirts and hair as they grow older. Every haircut is an attempt at the dean's bottom line. You can even try dyeing your hair during the holidays. A fresh haircut always comes with a smile and is ready to talk.

But from elementary to middle school, I witnessed another truth about haircuts. It turned out that the fast scissors when I was a child, using an electric planer to shovel green heads, was just a simplified, very low-level business method. Scissors and planers are used after use, which is not very hygienic. That short five minutes has made me uneasy. But the real traditional haircut, run by Shanghai masters, can be used for two hours.

That's my grandfather. Hong Kong people also call it "Gong Gong". At that time, he had already retired, and he traveled the mountains every day, taking care of me and picking me up from school since I was a child. How deep the wrinkles on the face, the white hair always combed into a perfect egg tart head. One day I need to accompany him to a haircut. It was on the second floor of a tenement building in Guantang, and it is believed to have been demolished. The row of leather sofas and chairs in the male guest department is bright and clean, and the old master in the snow-white shirt is like an old friend.

My husband put a warm wool cloth on his face and reclined on the sofa in a relaxed manner. The position of the armrests and footrests is just right to support his tall body, covered with white cloth. The master is fast, methodical, and cuts finely. Look at the relaxed face of my father-in-law, lie down a little deeper, and then shave. He didn't sleep, it was a deeper enjoyment than sleep.

And I'm getting more and more restless at the gleaming blade. At the last step, the master took out a small long ear pick the size of a ballpoint pen, and the father-in-law sat upright to remove the earwax. The master put the tip of the pen into the ear socket and twisted it... I couldn't help but stand up and walk over to see if something would dig out. Father-in-law's muscles tightened under the white cloth. "It's not easy to come here, sit back down." I froze for that sentence. The recklessness of a child is inherently dangerous, and in this place where the hands and feet are covered, the most vulnerable part of the body is directly exposed to the recklessness of others.

So I sat down carefully, hoping not to use this place in the future.