52 years of haircuts began with trim around ears

0

The first time I had scissors in my hands with the intent to cut my husband’s hair, it was only to “trim around his ears.”

That’s what he had asked me to do. Since George hadn’t gotten to the barber shop before it closed, I became the person to cut his hair.

Just trimming around his ears lasted for a long period of time until one day he asked me to also trim his hair in the back. Then came the time he needed his sideburns cut. You remember “sideburns.” If not, just think of Elvis Presley. Once someone told me they thought he looked like Elvis. That was a compliment back in those days.

Then the day came when he decided to let me cut it all the time. That was because he had just had his hair cut by a barber and when my dad saw it, he told him it looked like the barber had cut it with a screwdriver. That was back in the days he had to go to military summer camp training. And if it did look like it had been cut with a screwdriver, he didn’t want to go to summer camp looking like that.

So, from that day on, I have been his full-time barber.

Over the years, his hair has gone from one style to another. When it was time to cut his hair in the summer, we set up “shop” out on the patio. He has a very colorful sheet that is used to drape over his shoulders. It has never been used on a bed again.

I have to begin with his electric razor and trim the back of his neck to make a good edge. Since my training came during the early days of only trimming around his ears, I have now become an expert using an electric razor. I don’t ever cut his hair outside when any of the neighbors are home, so we wait until they have all gone to work.

As for the savings of the cost of the past 52 years of not paying a real barber to cut it, we must have saved a lot of money. If so, where is it?

The only thing I have not written about is the very gradual change in color and thickness. It was black in the early years and there was a lot of hair to be cut. It’s been very gradual that the black turned to a “salt and pepper.” Over this past year, it has turned to mostly white. And as for thickness, it used to take a long time to cut it, but now, since it is thinner, I can get it cut in half the time.

We have a picture of us that was taken on our 25th wedding anniversary. In it, we both have a lot of thick black hair. But now, on our 63rd wedding anniversary, we both have thinning white hair, but we have no complaints at all. At least we both still have some hair.

https://www.delgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2022/08/web1_Conklin.jpg

By Kay Conklin

Contributing columnist

Kay E. Conklin is a retired Delaware County recorder who served four terms. She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with a degree in sociology and anthropology.

No posts to display