praxistheologia.com

I had half a haircut.

After Church this afternoon I went to the mall. I had two things on the agenda. First off Lunch, which went surprising well considering the fast food nature of it all. Second, to get a much needed haircut. After lunch I stopped by my normal hair cutters to find a 20 minute wait. Being the impatient person that I am, I trudged over to the other hair cutting joint. Being the nervous fellow that I am when sharp things are whizzing around my head, I chatted up Hope, the fairly attractive, 20 something blond-haired-blue-eyed white stylist who was cutting my hair. I thought I might learn some interesting tidbit of hair cutting trivia while lengthening my forehead. I asked her how she got into salon work. She told me she learned the trade while in high school through a co-op program. I asked her what the best part of cutting hair was? She laughed and said she enjoyed the variety of it all. One day 3yo’s the next a bus from the senior citizens center full of octogenarians. I asked her what the worst part of it was. She paused and explained that the worst thing about being a stylist was cutting “black people’s hair.”

I must confess I thought I misheard her. I said “I’m sorry what was that?” and she confirmed it saying, “Yeah cutting black peoples hair is the worst. Since we don’t have to cut the hair of people we’re uncomfortable with, we all just refuse to cut their hair by saying we’re uncomfortable with them”

I got up, half my hair cut, paid for it and left.

By this point the 20 minutes was up, and Dawn at my regular hair salon finished cutting my hair for free.

I’m so glad we live in a land where race issues are solved.