It’s been two weeks since I wrote my first blog. I’ve realized I need to get into a “groove” with regard to keeping up with this blogging thing. It’s going to take real work, this little blog of mine, and although I am far from scared of a little hard work, this endeavor I’ve taken on of writing down my thoughts seems to have basically paralyzed me for the past two weeks. But, instead of allowing my fear (of not having anything to say that people want to read) keep me away from posting on this blog, I am going to begin to attack it head on and just start to share a bit of what goes on in my head. Yikes! That might actually be scary LOL.
I know I have what some might call an obsession with men’s hair. By an obsession, I mean I live and breathe men’s hair to the extent that when I’m out in the world, on the subway, or ordering a coffee, or spinning at Equinox, or sitting at bar, I’m secretly honing in on the haircuts of the men around me, thinking about how I could make the cuts better, sexier, more stylish, look more natural. I find myself looking around wondering why someone would cut off their sideburns or wear their hairline anything but natural or have their cowlick chopped so short that all it can do is stick out, or walk around whitewalled (in case you don’t know what that is…it’s when the hair is cut too high around the ears and skin is revealed where natural hair should be on the scalp). I’m wishing I could save these guys from themselves and their barbers and stylists. There are times I also wish I could turn this obsession off because I feel so passionately about men’s hair that it distracts me in my surroundings.
There are so many horrible men’s haircuts in this city. Some men know they have a terrible haircut and some don’t. The some that do, don’t necessarily know what to do about it or where to go or who to see to help fix it. The some that don’t, need to be more aware of what’s happening on their heads and start to get up to speed on what a great haircut can do for them. It’s actually become very hard for me to focus on anything else around me before initially scoping out the haircut scene anywhere I go that there are times my fiance, Leigh (you should know his name as he’ll be referenced a million times more going forward) will say to me “E, can we talk about something other than this guy’s hair or that guys sideburns or those guy’s hairlines and just enjoy our night out together.” It’s like an addiction, my obsession with what makes a haircut work on a man and really, there is no cure for it other than to dedicate myself to educating as many men as possible about their hair and hope that it makes an impact on them in the positive way I know it can.
A good haircut to me, is everything. It’s the sun and the moon and the stars. To me, for example, it’s the difference between getting through or not getting through to that next round of a job interview, not because the interviewer knows the difference, but because YOU DO and that affects your confidence, the way you hold yourself, the way you present yourself to the world. A good haircut makes you look in the mirror and say “Damn, I look good.” Not because the haircut stands out but because it makes you look like a better version of yourself. A great haircut often isn’t even acknowledged, which to me can be a good thing, as the right cut on a man just makes him that much better looking, that much more put together, that much more capable. A great haircut to me is almost always a haircut that doesn’t look like you just got a haircut. It’s just that little (or should I say big!) something that makes people say to you, “I don’t know what it is but you look great.”
I genuinely feel that it’s my calling to share my talent for cutting and styling men’s hair. I love nothing better than to be solicited for advice, even on my days or nights off, say at a dinner or a bar where I’m introduced as the owner and stylist of a midtown men’s hair salon. That makes my night more than anything else could. I love what I do that much. I love to make men understand what their hair can do for them and I love to help make a man look better than he ever thought he could. I love to teach men about their hair and their haircuts. I have the tools to do that and in this blog, along the way, I will share my secrets.
Going forward, it’s important to me that you know that I’m not only going to focus on the negative and by the negative I mean all the shitty, poorly cut and shaped and styled hair out there, as that’s too easy for me. It really is just as important along this journey to highlight the amazing men’s hair I come across as well, as that is what really keeps me inspired and driven and hopeful. It’ll be fun to do both here!
Whewwwww…ok, I think I’ve shared enough for tonight. Oh and this blogging thing I’ve been so afraid of, well, it turns out, it ain’t that bad. Stick with me. I’m going to try and keep it interesting.