The barber shop as a modern hermitage
I got an haircut today, and as usual I briefly sat for few minutes waiting for my appointment, got in the chair and spaced-out for most of the time.
Few words where exchanged over this hour:
- a friendly welcome “hey how you doing?”
- instructions “the usual?” “yep”
- confirmation ”good?” “good”
- a farewell ”bye” “see you next time”
This is the standard male experience of an haircut in the 2020s, and it’s one of the last sanctuary for our brain to simply run free.
I talk of an hermitage because in the barber shop too, for one hour we are alone with our thoughts, unable to easily distract ourselves, our brain retains the confidence and space to lead us into forgotten paths, creative endeavours, new ideas, old memories, self reflection and analysis.
The hypnotic buzzing of the trimmer, the warm bliss of the hot towel, these are all supercharges to jumpstart the journey.
The world is all but a far away abstraction, we are making connections between things we forgot we knew, a sense of clarity, of presence, of being in the moment while observing the moment, is all over us.
It goes fast one hour, and the high pitched whirrel of the hairdryer brings us quickly back into the chair, the journey has ended, will we be holding on to that insights we reached? Will that one original idea make it with us through the door?
The fog is encircling us, our schedule, commitments, meetings, errands, emergencies, it’s all waiting outside that door, the door of our hermitage, the barber shop.
“bye” “see you next time”