Hair Salons ought to have Oldie Hours

 Hair Salons ought to have Oldie Hours

Dinesh K Kapila

Now this suggestion is by experience. That hair salons or as we say hairdressers or barbers need to introduce ‘oldie hours’, like happy hours at bars. Believe me, it will work. Rather generate returns. Returns which they cannot calculate or even fathom as they are focused solely on the youngsters.

As you well, mature and then mature more in terms of the years passing by, the thick crop of hair on the head starts to thin out. Tablets, lotions and oils really do not work. That slice of a moon which is your bald pate starts to be visible and then only increases, very stealthily. It just creeps up on you. This thinning on the pate reduces the need for prolonged long sittings for a hair cut. Fifteen minutes is all it takes. Therein lies the problem.

I was sitting at a hair salon. Patiently. Requested to wait. Quietly looking around and observing the immense range of services being rendered, head massage, curls being straightened, hair getting an artificial bounce, hair being shampooed and by the way why can’t the youngster do it at home. There was threading, colouring, cheeks being rubbed on with varied creams and lotions, but the actual hair being cut or trimmed was less. Slowly it sunk in that this was not for me, the waiting time was too long. A guy paid Rs 5000 for his girlfriend and a Chandigarh Police Sub Inspector walked in wearing her uniform and had a treat yourself session. Well, it’s not the realm of a barber or hairdresser but much beyond it now, they even have their own journal. Seriously.

I loved this place, polite staff, plush chairs, a vibe in the atmosphere but it was focused on the youngsters or at the lower end of the middle aged. Not for me as I waited it out.
Silently, I exited. with regret. Moving along , I tried another establishment, now here is a guy who owes me I thought. Or at least knows me. When Dad was unwell I used to request him to trim his hair at home. Paid whatever he asked. The first time I dropped in or maybe twice, it was fine, walk in, sit on the chair and get the hair cut, pay and exit. Well, the third time there were youngsters sitting around. The way the greetings among them went was so similar, in Punjabi or Haryanvi Hindi, it was like, what are you upto, and the answer always was, ‘vela’ or it’s equivalent, meaning ‘totally idle’ but to be expressed with pride, insouciance and a certain nonchalance. Well after waiting for thirty minutes, I asked by a gesture, what about my hair cut, and the hairdresser said, I have high regards for you and your age and social work but these guys will pay me Rs 2500/- or more each for varied services, you will pay just Rs 350/-, could you wait some more time, I will order coffee for you. I walked straight out. What else could I do.

Finally I zeroed down on a hair salon in a booth. This was a place I could enter, get my hair cut and vanish. No Sir. The owner would carry on and on about skin care and hair care and what not, trying to add in wherever other services and products he could palm off on to me. Worse, he wanted to colour my hair and moustache. I realised whether I conveyed my refusal lightly or seriously, he was not listening, he had his play book out on how to entice a customer.

Then one day three of us, around a similar age, were walking. Slowly we realised that all three of us shared a similar story as regards hair salons. We then found a small hair salon, furnished nicely, the trick was to walk up a floor around 1230 or 230 pm. A time not favoured by young people or the young middle aged. At least not at this establishment.

Now I am not from the current generation which seems to suggest they like their hair like some aspects of their life, life as they live it, wild, untamed, and hair done up that way only. All I want is a comfortable plush hair salon, saying walk in and fifteen to twenty minutes later, walking out with a good hair cut. Happy hours or Oldie Hours ought to be there for guys like me, there are plenty of my demography out there as I realised. Exiled from many hair salons as all they want is a simple haircut. Nothing more, nothing else. Bring on those happy hours or what I we can brand as oldie hours. We wait. Just do it.

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