The New Hairdresser

When we saw them painting the front of the shop that previously housed a pet salon, I had all kinds of thoughts. Another vape shop? Overpriced flat? Optimistically, when they revealed the old lettering on the glass which said ‘bakery’, I salivated and daydreamed of croissants on a weekend morning.

Then I saw the thick sinks, the barber chair and the young bloke with a decent haircut. I didn’t really feel anything. It was fine and it would save me the money the pastry trap would consume.

Then each day I passed. It was just him. A lone wolf. Some mornings I passed with the dog and saw him putting the kettle on, setting up for his first customer. Other days I was later and he’d be smiling, nattering to various customers. But always customers. An unanticipated happiness rose in my gut. He was busy. I rarely walk past and see nobody. I don’t know what his prices are or truly how many people pass through when I’m not around, but I found myself nibbling on the vicarious biscuit that I’d tasted back in my formative days, on those beautiful Fridays when I got to catch the train from Preston to go see my parents, and answer ‘yes, really busy, actually’ when asked about business.

His customers always seem to be grinning, so I imagine what they’re talking about. Not politics, not worrying things of any kind. I allow myself to believe it’s something hopeful, wonderfully banal, imaginative, or deliriously asinine. Their faces suggest it is.

Even when I walk the dog early and nobody’s there, I wonder who’s in today and what they’re having done on their heads.

And another layer to this unexpected source of motivation is that by the time I’ve walked the dog, made breakfast, dropped the kids at school, I feel ready to get into my little space and get creative. Maybe this is some distant echo of tribalism. His shop is literally a stone’s throw from my garden, and knowing there’s happiness happening, and he’s got work makes me feel good, some sense of belonging too.

Croissants would have been nice, but vicarious motivation, hairdresser style is the one for me.