The one word you don’t want to hear at the barber shop

I was due for a haircut, so I went to the barber down the road. I wanted to look nice and sharp for the big performance.

In the past, I’ve just said to the person cutting my hair, “Give me the #2.”

And it would always work out just fine.

Until it didn’t.

The gal took the shears and, well, did a #2 on the top of my head.

I mean, she took off everything but maybe a centimeter of hair.

First pass on the top of my hair, I gasped. “What have you done?!” I asked in sheer horror.

She was petrified. “I just did what you told me to do…” She showed me the #2 size thing you put on the clippers.

I guess the word “Oops” is the one word you don’t want to hear at the barbershop. The poor girl was just doing what I told her to do. Although in the past, I think the #2 would be applied only to the sides, then they would use scissors for the top to make it look all spiffy.

Perhaps the gal should have made sure I knew what I was getting. “You do realize you’re basically going to look bald, right?” would have been a welcome warning before going to town on my hair.

Well, I did the gig in my suit and tie, and cue ball head. It was slightly awkward, but at the end of the day, Brahms is dead, and he doesn’t care about the hair of the person playing his violin solo on the cornet.

Fast forward to a week ago. I was watching a video of me playing fetch with our little poodle, and I couldn’t hep but notice I was guilty of the massive combover sindrome. I was trying to hide the fact I’m  losing my hair at a rate I wasn’t willing to accept.

So I went downstairs to the Vietnamese guy who cuts my hair, showed him a picture of a guy with a buzzcut, pointed to my head and motioned for him to give me that kind of haircut.

This cat actually started cutting the top with scissors, and I had to tell him, no, I want it all gone. So I’ll figure out a hairstyle that works with my current parameters, rather than fooling myself into thinking I’m 25.

So that young gal at Cost Cutters (I did tip her, it’s not like she didn’t do her job) ended up doing me a favor. This time I’m embrace the hair loss and am working within the constraints Nature has bestowed upon me.

Entrepreneurship can be kind of like this. It’s rather daunting when you begin. It causes you to step out of your comfort zone. And yes, you’ll do things that will make you feel exposed, unnatural, like I did when my hair was lopped off against my wishes.

But like hair growing back (what’s left of it), the ego heals and you move on to the next thing – or maybe the same thing done better and wiser.

I have a mobile app that contains a small but growing collection of ebooks, audiobooks, podcasts and trainings that will help you step out of your comfort zone and get you on the road to making a living without working for The Man.

If you want to check it out, here’s the link.

Be well,

James Newcomb