• came_apart_at_Kmart [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    9 months ago

    not LCN, but once i was wrapping up a touring vacation in a big metro area of the southwestern US and was staying with a broke friend from college for a few days until my flight. i was crashing on his couch in some illegal housing in an interesting part of town. he was at work one day and i'm just bored, and need a haircut, so i look up the street view nearby to find a haircut joint. i find a barbershop within a 10 minute walk that had major nuestra familia vibes from the name and decoration. i adopted my best "dumb white guy" face and go for it.

    it's midday on a weekend, front door unlocked, lights not really on and i walk in. the joint is completely empty except this younger lady [with exquisite makeup, hair, and nails] and two kids eating some takeout and watching TV. most of the barber chairs have like boxes of stuff sitting in them. there's just unmarked boxes of stuff everywhere. i ask if they're open and if i can get my head shaved and if they take credit. yes to all, but with a bored shrug. it took like 40 minutes for her to find the equipment she needed (some cheap disposable razors and cheap shave cream) and do the thing. i had shaved my head less than two weeks earlier, so it wasn't long. by the end i had a bunch of little cuts, and she had to find the credit card machine to plug it in. it cost like $45. i left a $5 tip. i was like, "who cares, i'm on vacation" though i had no idea what it was going to cost until she showed me the receipt after i had been charged. lol.

    when my friend got back from work i told him i got a haircut at that place and he exploded in laughter. he'd been living there for 3 years and described that place as "no joke." he had wanted to check it closer, but he was rocking hair down to his ass and going for some personal best so he had no excuse.