Sunday 22 March 2020

Getting your hair cut

when you cannot "head" to the barber is an issue unless...you have Middle Cat.
The Senior Cat still has a reasonable head of hair at 97. It needed cutting. It had started to grow over his ears. He hates it like that - although I am aware that he had not noticed it the way  he usually does.
Middle Cat arrived yesterday afternoon. She was armed with the red cape and the various combs and clippers and whatever. 
    "Time to get shorn,"she announced and made sure he was firmly seated in his walker in the middle of the family room floor. That floor is the one where it is easy to simply sweep up the mess. 
I left them to it and went to do some essential watering. Middle Cat could answer the phone if the call we were expecting came through.
Middle Cat cuts her husband's hair. She has done this for years. Until her two boys were old enough to pay for their own hair cuts and wanted something "better than Mum"  she cut theirs too. I noted with interest that when the younger of the two boys was home last she had given him a "trim". She used to do her late father-in-law and has been known to do other males in an emergency.
She seems to be competent enough and she is careful about hygiene. No doubt a professional barber would raise an eyebrow but her sheep look presentable.
     "I'll do you too," she told me.
I prowled off quickly. I have no desire for a haircut. I can think of a few things worse than having to visit a hairdresser on a regular basis but not many. It rates along with things like a visit to the doctor or the dentist for me. I keep my head fur clean and the ends trimmed by me. I keep it tied back because I  hate it hanging around my face. 
I still remember going to school with a "fringe". My mother thought it would be nice because "all the other little girls have one". So I had my two plaits and I had the fringe. I went home in the afternoon with two extra hair clips. A teacher had taken pity on me and clipped it out of the way because I was developing a rash underneath it. (My mother tried again later - with the same result.)
But it has made me think of all the older people who don't have a Middle Cat to give them a hair cut. 
Perhaps long hair will become fashionable again?

2 comments:

jeanfromcornwall said...

Just when I had decided to keep mine really short!

My daughter is in full quarantine since her son (6 nearly 7) has it. He has been quite ill, but is getting better now. A quote from her this morning - "Now I understand the need for a stash. It is time to knit the good stuff!"

Holly said...

and house calls may become the new norm. I am like you - long hair that clips out of the way is the easiest....