#653 When someone compliments your new haircut

Neil Pasricha

new haircutHaircuts are stressful.

Come on, there are at least 3 Major Worries when you go get your lid trimmed:

1. Disappearing Choppers. Have you ever gone to your regular place and found your go-to person suddenly missing? Brother, that’s a bombshell. Plus, the gang left over can be pretty tight-lipped on details, too. No forwarding address, no new business cards, nothing. They just vanished and left only a few combs floating in the Barbicide for clues. Yes, now it’s time to step into the chair with The New Guy and grit your teeth, grab the handlebars, and brace yourself for a rickety journey down a dark mineshaft tunnel of horror. As the lights dim and you close your eyes, you hear the electric razor firing up in the distance…

mineshaft2. Doing A New Do. Asking the stylist to try something new is pretty high up there on the Greatest Fears Of All Time List. It’s jussssst above three-hour root canal and jussssst below getting a snake thrown on you when you’re sleeping.

3. Getting One-Upped. This is where you’re getting your haircut and one of your barber’s more loyal customers walks in the door. You can tell this new guy is a somebody because they immediately start dominating the conversation while you become the third wheel and your barber goes superspeed and starts cutting corners. Sure, this doesn’t happen too often, but if you’ve ever been one-upped you know what I’m talking about.

barbicideFolks, if you’re nodding, you know the stress of getting a haircut. As the stylist peels the nylon apron off of your neck and brushes hair shards off your neck and onto your back, you cautiously check the mirror and scope the new you. Sometimes you strut confidently out of the salon like you’re in a slow-mo shampoo commercial, but other times you squint at yourself and frown slightly while cartoony question marks pop above your head like bubbles.

On days when you have doubts, that little “Hey, nice haircut” compliment can do wonders for your self-esteem. Because, come on, we’re all self-conscious about those little patches of scraggly knots up there. Most of us don’t know what’s going on with our hair so we just sort of grin and bear it for most of our lives.

That’s what makes haircut compliments so sweet.

Thanks for saying something.

AWESOME!

bedhead

Photos from: here, here, and here

28 thoughts to “#653 When someone compliments your new haircut”

  3. I like this, but really HATE it when the people giving you the compliment are just saying it to be nice, when the haircut is plainly awful…

    Then again, it is a good Friend/Best Friend Barometer.

  4. Definitely a good thing, but only if it’s genuine….or because you mentioned you just got a cut and they follow up with a compliment because they felt they had to.

  5. Bed head baby!! As I was scrolling down, part of BHB’s hair started appearing. My pulse quickened, my fingers grew anxious with those last few clicks, and my eyes hastened their pace through the words.

    I love this kid.

    I also love getting compliments, but it’s been so long since I’ve had my hair cut that I can’t remember this feeling! I plan on donating my hair, so the next cut will be super noticeable. People better recognize.

    1. Mel: I totally agree about the bedhead baby! That kid made my day.

      I just wanted to say “way to go” about donating your hair. My daughter and I did it together last spring, and it was a great experience. We got the salon to take before and after photos. Losing 10-12 inches at once is a bit freaky, but we both loved our new haircuts, and it’s for a good cause.

      Don’t worry – people will recognize!

  7. My fave hairdresser at my home-town salon, who always used to get excited when she saw my name in the register cuz she loved playing with my hair, quit literally the day after she last cut my hair, with no warning at all. she’d just gotten married and decided to live elsewhere with her new hubby. it was devastating.

    i’m getting my hair cut by my new fave stylist on saturday. i expect to get lots of compliments :-))

  10. That kid is adorable (the one at the bottom). :-)

    It’s hard when you don’t have a regular stylist and are constantly in a state of fear. Maybe that’s why I haven’t gotten a hair cut in a year. LOL!

  13. When you reach my age…you’re just happy to have someone compliment you on having hair!
    When I get a haircut, it’s exactly that…”A” hair cut.
    Love da baby pic!..Awesome

  17. i know i’ve become a familiar face in town as the flyer girl for a local cafe when the UPS guy walks by and compliments my new haircut :) not joking!

  18. Just about everyone who has ever cut my hair says that its great. Not because of the style, but because it’s thick and black.

  19. People I’ve seen many many times since I got my haircut 3 months ago just complimented me within the last week or so… but to be fair my hair is often up in a ponytail when I’m around them since I work with babies-preschoolers…

  20. Since I left Vancouver over 25 years ago now, it’s been like #2.
    I mean people please~seriously, it’s my hairs fault???
    And I’ve pretty much been left with no choice, but to keep it one length.

  21. 1978, I was like a whale, expecting my first child; I’d hair nearly down to me knees and it was time to make myself feel somewhat better; you know like one of the real Charlie’s Angel’s!
    Too bad, there was no donating for wigs then. Worse still, I never saw what was coming when this hairdresser who had a grudge against a sibling, in turn hacked my hair short and gave me a short curly perm.
    She got her revenge and everybody else got a whole lot of laughs, while the best “compliment” I got was that now I looked like like a cuddly fat teddy bear! Horrible I tell you. I would have opted for #2… I think?!*

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