My nappy hair, Part III

Some of you must have thought I was crazy when I've posted about the difficulties of a black man finding a place that can cut his hair.

But read this interesting little story from the New York Times this morning about a black man trying to get a haircut in, of all places, Vermont.

Now, the black guy thought it was racism, because the white guy said he wouldn't cut the black guy's hair. But when asked for an explanation, the white guy said he didnt know how to cut black hair and he just didn't want to embarrass himself or the black guy.

At least the white guy was honest.

But the bigger issue remains. How is that you can be a barber and you dont learn how to cut black hair in barber school?

Where are all the black joggers?

We are at a higher risk for high blood pressure, and we are 30 percent more likely to die from heart disease than our white counterparts, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. In a report issued July 16, the CDC said we (blacks) are 50 percent more likely than whites and 20 percent more likely than hispanics to be obese.

And despite our health problems, when we become adults we don't engage in one of the easiest, cheapest activities that is known to support heart health and trim waistlines: R-U-N-N-I-N-G.

Go to your local running trail and tell me how many black faces you see.

We gotta do better than this.

And I'm not saying running/walking is the end-all be-all. Some of us are into other recreational sports, and that's cool. But many of us do nothing. And sooner or later we will pay for the inactivity with shorter life spans or ill health. Since I am a runner, I want to start encouraging more blacks to run.

And so beginning today, I'm going to try to shine a little light on this issue. At the end of each post, I will note the number of black people I saw running.

When I ran Monday morning, the number was higher than usual (four). I saw a woman in her late 50s and a man in his 30s running. And I saw two men about my age walking. That's four people (five including myself) out of what had to have been more than 100 runners I saw when I ran from 7 to 8 a.m. Monday.

And even that was an improvement. Most of the time, I don't see any blacks when I run around Austin's Town Lake, even though we make up about 10 percent of the population. (I've seen three black women who are training for a road race through Rogue, which is one of the Austin-based runners clubs who train people to run marathons. When I ran in Fort Worth, I often bumped into one black woman (Vivian) and one black man (James) who ran the same trails as I did with Luke's Locker.)

Where are we at? We dominate the professional athletic endeavors, and I know you will find a lot of black men on the basketball courts or sandlot football fields.

But we don't run for recreation. We won't run. And when I say we, I don't mean the Kenyans and Africans who dominate the sport of running. I mean the American born black guy or girl.

I have not seen any studies about the number of American-born blacks who run, or participate in road races from 5ks to the marathon. Anecdotally, you'd have to be blind to know that for many of us, running just isn't our thing. I know the names and states of at least two dozen people who read or post things on my blog. Only two of the people I know, the bloggers who run, are black: Dawn from Connecticut and Reese from Oklahoma. I have also run into a few runners who belong to the National Black Marathoners Association.

I'm happy to report that my 60-year-old mom spends a lot of time on the treadmill. (And has even figured out how to text me while power-walking!)

I hope my white/hispanic/asian runner friends don't take offense to this post. It's people like you who got me into this running thing to begin with. And I am grateful.

But one day, it'd be nice to have to use more than one or two hands to count the number of black people I see out for their morning jog.

LAPTOP UPDATE: When Noah poured his cup of water on my computer Sunday, I just knew it would be toast. But after letting it drip dry, I turned it on last night and it fired up just fine.

No job yet, but I did find a barber

I had several goals when I came to Austin.

Spend more time with son: Check

Find a job: uncheck

Find a running group to train with: Check

Find someone close to where I live who can cut black hair....

Drumroll

Check!

I've been an Austin resident 19 days and I thought it would take forever to check that last category off. A week or so ago, I went to a SportsClips in Westlake and let a woman cut my hair because I needed a haircut realllll bad. She did ok. But what did I expect, huh? I have yet to see a black person in Westlake - I don't actually live in Westlake, per se. But its just a half a mile away and its where the nearest grocery store is to me - and so I certainly couldnt expect a nice looking haircut in Westlake.

So Tuesday afternoon I had plenty of time on my hands to drive around and find a place that could cut black hair. I found myself on streets like Lamar and Stassney and Manchaca. Then I saw a school. And a lot of kids walking around (it was around lunchtime). And most of the kids were black and hispanic. I thought there has got to be a black barber around here. So I kept driving and voila: A place called Legends Barbershop, which happened to be next to a gun shop in a run-down little strip mall.

But, hey, that was okay with me. This has got to be the place, I thought. I walked up to the door, looked in and saw... one white guy cutting hair. Hmmmm. Should I walk in? Maybe he can only cut white hair? But then I took a closer look and saw two black guys waiting for this white guy to cut their hair. And I figured, these guys look like regulars so this white guy must be alright.

Turns out, this guy - can't remember his name right now - cuts hair just as good as any black that has ever cut my hair. I only had to tell him one time what I wanted, using terms that I normally use with black guys - and the white guy got it perfectly. Just right. Made my day.

Now that I have found a white guy who can cut hair, I need to find one who'll give me a job.

I finally found a black barber. Can I move him to Austin?

So, I've spent a lot of space on this blog complaining about a lack of black barbers in my neighborhood. And to some, its a pretty important topic. In the last few weeks, people have come upon my blog after they've typed in keywords such as:

black men hairline

black hair cutters west haven

how to cut a black man's hair

how to barber your own hair black people

What I haven't told you is I finally found a guy who could cut my hair. The day before the Feb. 28 Cowtown Marathon, I was walking around downtown Fort Worth and saw this place called Shelton's Barber. I walk in. There was an old black guy and a young black guy manning the chairs. I'm happy because I know these guys will know what to do with this nappy stuff on my head. The young guy's chair is open and in 30 minutes, I've got a fresh haircut.

The thing I noticed is that both of the barbers had white customers as well. And because the shop was downtown, I'm pretty sure most of their customers are white. So the question is, if black barbers had to learn how to cut black and white hair, how come the white establishments don't make their people learn how to cut black hair?

Hmmmm.

I've been back to this barber three other times. He only charges $13 and I give him a $7 tip. Why so much of a tip? Well, those places like SuperCuts or ProCuts charge about $17 for a cut and I tip them $3 bucks. And they don't even deserve a tip.

So, its nice to have finally found a place to cut my hair. Of course, the bad news is, I'm moving to Austin and will have to find another barber. And the neighborhood I'm moving to, just south and west of downtown Austin and a few miles away from Westlake, doesn't look like it's teeming with black barbers, or barbers who can cut a black man's hair.

Hopefully, it won't take me a long time to find another place like Shelton's.

The clippers that mauled my hairline: pictoral evidence.

After my post about my most recent bad haircut experience, a few of my blogging friends (from Arizona - sorry about that Cardinals loss; and from Long Beach, Cali) asked me for a picture of the clipper mauling.

So here it is. As you can see, a big chunk of my hairline has been removed. Again, it'll grow back and all, but damn, edging up a black man's hair is actually the easiest part of giving a black man a hair cut.

See, all you have to do is follow the outline of my natural hairline. Remember when you were a kid in art class? You had to color and stay in the lines? Same concept. Well, apparently, this hair technician flunked art.

An open letter to white hair cut establishments

To whomever it may concern

Please teach your "hair technicians" how to cut a black man's hair. Please. Pretty please.

I haven't complained/blogged about my difficulties in finding a good hair cut IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD in a while mainly because, for the last half of last year, I found somebody. A 20-something girl name Ashley at Knockouts for Men in Fort Worth had figured out what to do with these naps and every two weeks, she delivered one consistent hair cut after another.

Now, I know what you are saying. You are saying I only went to knockouts because of the scantily clad women that cut hair there. Well, I also went for the free beer they give you. But honestly, it was a last resort. Late last Spring, I had run out of all my options of viable places IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD that could cut a black man's hair. And I didn't want to drive 20 to 30 minutes out of the way to the BLACK NEIGHBORHOOD to get a haircut mainly because gas was close to $4/gallon at the time and getting a haircut at a black barbershop on a Saturday meant I was going to have to wait another 30 to 45 minutes before I could get in the barber's chair.

(By the way, the cutting of a black man's hair is on the minds of many "hair technicians." I know because dozens of people have inadvertently found my blog by googling keywords such as, "how to cut a black man's hair." Try it. You'll see my blog pop up.)

So I ignored any thoughts I had about Knockouts being a place that is demeaning to women, etc, etc, and I walked in. I told Ashley what I needed, and with a few prompts, she did a nice job. So I kept going back. It got to a point that all I had to do was sit in the chair and Ashley knew exactly what I wanted. No arrows or wild cuts. No crazy fades. Just something short with a slight taper.

Well, Ashley got another job cutting hair near her house in Burleson, so that left me looking for a new "hair technician." But I was feeling confident that since one white person did such a good job cutting my hair, any white person could cut my hair.

So last weekend, I'm in Austin. Hadn't had a haircut since, oh, mid January. There is a TGI-Haircutters down the street from where Noah and Nancy live. I walk in. A 40-something year old guy from Oklahoma is my "hair technician" He smells like smoke and his hand is shaking a little bit, but that doesn't necessarily worry me. He actually does a nice job....until he gets to the part where he has to edge up my front and sides.

Arghhhh!#$%^&!! He cuts my hair line too far back on the sides and the front. I cringe when I see what he has done, but its no use complaining. I'll still look silly when I get out of his chair. I pay the $14.95 and even leave him a $2.50 tip.

Oh, well. Everything will grow back soon enough. I just hope I find another "hair technician" soon. Heck, maybe I'll start trying to cut my own hair. This guy did.

Revisiting my nappy head

A few weeks ago, I blogged about the challenges of a black man needing a consistent hair cut living in a mostly white neighborhood. I wrote that either I could take my chances at a place like SuperCuts, where they employ men and women who are not barbers.
Or I could drive 20 to 30 minutes or more to the black neighborhood and wait another 30 minutes or more to get a really good haircut.
Gandaman and I had a real nice virtual discussion about this topic.
And by some of the hits I got on this page from search engines, I can tell it was a subject on the minds of many "hairstylists" across the country.
A sampling of what people googled..

Cut black man hair, from Oregon
how to use clippers to cut a black mans hair, from North Carolina
how to barber black people hair? from Ontario, Canada
how to cut a black man's hair with clippers from San Francisco

Ok, you get the picture. Hairstylists around the country, presumably non-black ones, are getting more and more black men walking into their salons. And they _ the hairstylists _ want to do a good job. (Looks like the "hair schools" across the country should do a better job of teaching folks how to cut black men's hair to begin with.)

Anyway, next to the place I buy my wine (Put a Cork In It), I noticed that there was a place that did hair, Park Hill Hair Designs. The sign in the window said they had a barber on duty. A white barber, probably, but a barber nonetheless.
So I figured, what the heck.
I walked in. Saw another black waiting and figured that the barber on duty must be okay.
Turns out, the black guy, Roy, just wanted all his hair cut off. Heck, anybody, barber or not, could do that.
Finally, it was my time. The barber, a guy who looked to be in his mid to late 50s, introduced himself as Steve. Then he asked me what I wanted, but before I could get the answer out he said, "Now, I'm just warning you. I can't do fade-ups and I've only cut two blacks in the past year."
By then, I was already in the seat and figured, "if he screws up, I'll just patch it up myself at home."
Besides, I didn't want a fancy high-top fade. I just wanted something conservative. Something like Denzel Washington in American Gangster. Maybe a little shorter. But very conservative.
Things started out a little shaky with Steve, though. He cut the sides first using a comb as a guide, the way you cut white guy's hair.
I said, as nicely as possible, "You might wanna go ahead and put a guard on your clippers and you'll be okay."
Steve did, and by the way, it was a nice metal guard. Things went great after that.
Steve went on to tell me that though he is a barber, he doesn't get a lot of practice cutting black hair. He said he cut the head of a black kid once. The kid loved the haircut, but the dad was furious.
"I just tell people if you get a barber who can cut your hair the way you want it, then stay with that person."
Sounds like pretty good advice.
Steve did a good job on my hair. A damn good job, in fact. And I think he'll do better the more practice he gets with me.
Looks like I found me a barber without needing to drive to the 'hood.

I need a certain kind of barber for my nappy hair

I miss my college barber. You took a two minute stroll to his dorm room. You sat in the chair. You told him in one or two sentences what you wanted. He gave you a perfect hair cut. Everytime.
Let me rephrase that. I miss my (black) barber.
At Prairie View A&M University, a historically black college just north of Houston, TX, everybody that cut hair could cut hair. And when I say cut hair, I mean a black man's hair. Cutting a black man's hair is like an art form.
In the 17 plus years that I have been out of college, I've had trouble finding a black barber.
Oh, they are out there. But mostly, in the black neighborhoods. Not in the neighborhoods I've lived in where the options are mostly SuperCuts or ProCuts. Its hit or (mostly) miss at these places. If you are a black guy and want someone to shave all your hair off, they can do that. But anything else? A taper-fade? A tight edge up? You leavin' your hair to chance.
But I like the availability of these establishments. You're in. You're out. And you get on with the rest of your day. If I need to, I can handle clippers well enough to "patch up" at home any mistakes one of the Procuts people might make. (I guess I shouldn't complain too much. I could have had my hair cut at one of these places illustrated in WallStreetFighter.com a few months back.)
Still, the last ProCuts person that cut my hair really did some damage, so I haven't had a hair cut in about a month.
And it's not like I want some crazy haircut with all kinds of parts and arrows. I just want a regular hair cut. Clean. Respectable. Every 10 days or so. And I could get one. But driving to the black neighborhood is so far out of the way. And when you get there, it's always a long line, an hour-long wait sometimes. You gotta make an appointment or be the first guy at the door in the mornings. Standing in line for NBA playoff tickets isn't that much harder.
At ProCuts or TGF Haircutters, they ask you what kind of guard to use ("A 2 or a 2 1/2 for the top?"). Look. Don't ask me how to cut my hair. That's why I'm paying you $13.95.
And the guards they use are almost always plastic. They press down real hard on your head for what they hope is an even cut. I always leave with a headache. At a black barbershop, they have these cool metal guards which cut your hair very fine. They don't press down on your head. They go freehand. You can sometimes close your eyes and JUST KNOW that you are getting a good haircut by how the barber holds the clippers and the sound the clippers make.
(I'm not saying that these other places can't cut hair. What I am saying: For a barber, it is probably easiest to cut hair like your own. I'd imagine the degree of difficulty for a black guy to cut a white or hispanic guy's hair is also pretty high.)
My mixed-race 8-month old son, whose mother is hispanic, has, "good hair." He won't have these kind of barber problems when he gets older.
I wish the black barbershops were were on as many street corners as Starbucks.
I wish the ProCuts people employed more black barbers.
I wish I could cut my own hair.
I'm driving to the black neighborhood Saturday.