Breaking Up With My Barber

The relationship between a barber and client is sacred. Besides parental relationships and intimate partnerships, I would say it’s the third most important relationship for most Black men. So it is devastating when you have to end this long standing relationship.

I relocated to Greensboro, North Carolina from Tampa, Florida in 2005, so like most individuals in a new city, I had to find a new barber. I settled on this barbershop in walking distance from my home. The owner was a family man, business owner of three barbershops, and father of four, precocious, and extremely busy children. I figured being the owner, he would be the most skilled, but it was hard to pin down available and convenient times when I could reach him for my weekly scheduled haircuts.

After several weeks of phone tag, and just not getting anywhere, I decided to take a chance on the new guy. “Paul”, as I will call him for identification purposes, was fresh out of barber college. I mean he literally had just graduated a month before. But being the new guy, Paul didn’t have any clients, and I figured he would not only be easy to reach, I would have to expend much getting an appointment with him. Sure enough, I was able to schedule my weekly Thursday, 2pm slot.

For the first 10 years, it was all gravy. I’d show up, thirty minutes ahead of schedule, and if he finished with the person ahead of me, I…