Dilemma

It’s audience participation day here at Sean’s Ramblings. I have a true scenario and want your opinion on what to do.

I’ve mentioned several times that I get my haircuts at Hair Cuttery. The haircuts cost $16 (before tip) and the barbers/stylists are generally fine. However, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend them to others and would certainly be willing to try somewhere else particularly since I don’t have much hair and cutting my hair shouldn’t be very difficult or time-consuming.

A month or two ago, a barber shop located in a house on a street near me opened. It seems a little sketchy or at least in an odd location, but they have a website and advertise $10 haircuts. They also have two positive reviews on Yelp.


(This is not the place near my house. I just liked this ad.)

Curious about this place, I contacted the barber shop by e-mail to make sure they are licensed. Since they haven't responded, I contacted Virginia’s Board for Barbers and Cosmetology, a division of the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation ("DPOR") about this barber shop. The government agency quickly replied (typing those five words together doesn’t seem to make sense) stating:

We cannot locate a barber shop or cosmetology salon in our records under the name you have provided. If you believe that the barber shop or salon is operating without a license, you may submit a complaint to the Department’s Complaint Analysis section.

So here's my situation. Do I file a complaint with the DPOR? Do I try to get a haircut first and see how it goes even though they may be unlicensed? Do I do nothing besides ask a series of questions?


Update 1/17: So, I got a $10 haircut. Although it wasn't a good haircut, I'm not going to contact DPOR and will return to Hair Cuttery for my next haircut.

The $10 Haircut

Remember my dilemma last week regarding the unlicensed barber shop? Well, I tried it over the weekend and wanted to share the results. Let’s start with the positive.

- I enjoyed the music selection of 90s hits including Mr. Jones, Wonderwall, and an ‘N Sync song that I can’t get out my head. While I can do without Aerosmith’s Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing and whatever Backstreet Boys song they played (Is Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely the name of one of their songs?), overall, the music was a plus.

- They gave me a hot towel at the completion of the haircut. Hot towels should be used and available in any personal and professional situation. They also provided a razor shave of the back of my neck and sideburns. I always think this is cool even if these razors could potentially cause lots of bleeding.

- I was treated very well and received excellent personal attention. There was my primary male barber and another woman who occasionally assisted. The female barber may have been the owner or it was a student-teacher type relationship where she was making sure he was doing everything was correctly.

- The entire haircut was $10.

Sounds like a wonderful experience, right? Well, here’s the negative:



This is a picture of the back of my head with a random gray stripe at the bottom. Perhaps the word “trim” was lost in translation. I don’t think my hair has been this short since my birth. Fortunately, I expect the hair to grow back...and then I guess I'll go back to Hair Cuttery for my next haircut.

Post-Super Bowl Thoughts (and a Hair Story)

I may have received the quickest haircut in history Tuesday evening. I asked for a trim and the woman basically shaved the back of my neck and shortened my sideburns. She barely touched the rest of my hair. (Naturally, since it is Hair Cuttery, she did have enough time to try and sell me Nioxin, a thickening shampoo.) I’m not sure if I’ve reached the point where I have so little hair that all of my haircuts will only last 4 minutes or if the hairdresser was just lazy. Could I have lost that much hair since my last haircut? If so, the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl may have contributed to hair loss.

Here’s a fun hypothetical question: Let’s say that instead of the final Roethlisberger-to-Holmes touchdown, Mewelde Moore had a touchdown run for the winning score. In that case, who would have been the Super Bowl MVP? If your answer is either Ben or Holmes, has there ever been a case where the offensive player won the MVP without scoring a touchdown?

Inspired by my interview of him, Brian St. Pierre provided one last blog post about his Super Bowl experience. (Congrats to St. Pierre on the upcoming birth of his first child.)

Ziggy had no interest in watching the kitty halftime portion of the Puppy Bowl.

Steelers Today has a video of Ben’s appearance on Monday's David Letterman.

Yahoo presented a terrific photo gallery of the Steelers Super Bowl parade and celebration. Why is Casey Hampton sans shirt?



Yes, I realize that I’m now going to get Google searches for Casey Hampton shirtless in addition to the people already searching for Richard Ruccolo shirtless and Antonio Holmes shirtless (or worse).

Some joke of a newspaper called the Phoenix New Times paid someone to write and actually published a hateful article about Pittsburgh and the Steelers (the negative stuff starts on page three). There are some ugly R-rated language in the comments but most of the comments are thoughful and represent Pittsburgh well.

Finally, I apologize for not updating everyone on the Rock of Love 3 fantasy league. laclips of This is Getting Old is currently in the lead. By the way, it’s not too late to join.

Shampoo

I can't believe I'm writing about this. I went to Hair Cuttery yesterday for a haircut, and they were really trying to sell me Nioxin shampoo, which apparently helps with hair loss (hopefully with slowing hair loss). A small bottle of this stuff is $12. $12?!?! I refuse to spend that much for shampoo. I don't have enough hair to spend $12 on shampoo!

So I'm now writing to look for shampoo suggestions. I have used Pert Plus (shampoo and conditioner in one!) for many years now, but I wonder if there is a better product out there that may help reduce hair loss but does not $12 per bottle? I apologize if I'm sounding like Tony Kornheiser with his hair/lack of hair stories. Any suggestions?

Prison Break Haircut

I got a haircut the other night, and I now look like I would fit in nicely with the cast of Fox's Prison Break. Maybe it's not THAT short, but it's not far from it. My barber/stylist finished cutting my hair in about four minutes. I figured that since it took such a short amount of time for him to cut my hair, he must not have cut enough. Note to self...find a new place to go besides Hair Cuttery.

Speaking of Prison Break, something does not seem right (actually there are many things, but I'm just going to focus on one). From my experience watching movies involving prison (Green Mile, Dead Man Walking, Silence of the Lambs), the folks on death row tend to be completely isolated from the general prison population. Not on Prison Break where the lead character's brother (who is on death row) is able to be outside and be on work duty with everyone else.