Vt. Barber Says Not Good at Cutting Blacks' Hair

WHY IS THAT NEWS? The last time paid a a white barber to cut my hair, it was a nightmare. Unless it's a straight all-over job with the clippers, I want to see either naps on his head (making an assumption here) or evidence of his previous good work.

I was trying to imagine you owning a Juice Newton album and having a really hard time ...

Ha! I've never heard that version all the way through. Didn't learn it existed until uni.

WHY IS THAT NEWS?

I was wondering. It sounds less like, "ahhhhhh, racism" and more like, "oh, skillset."

Heck, I get twitchy with fine, wavy hair about who cuts it. News flash: different hair is different.

The barber thing is a hot button historical issue in the civil rights movement. There had to be legal rulings that barbers and hairstylists couldn't turn away customers because of their race.

Yeah, note that the actual story is not that the Vermont barber isn't good at cutting black hair, it's that he lied to a black prospective customer about being the barber, in order to turn him away, and this is how he's defending himself.

They buried the lead - this is the real story:

Mike Aldrich, who is white and runs Mike's Barber Shop in Bellows Falls, told the would-be customer when he stopped in last month that the barber wasn't in.

Instead of saying "Sorry man, I have no idea how to cut your hair and wouldn't want to fuck it up" he flat-out lied to get the guy out of his shop. The entirely reasonable-sounding reason he gave for this was after the fact. I'd be pissed too.

[yeah, xpost]

Yeah, note that the actual story is not that the Vermont barber isn't good at cutting black hair, it's that he lied to a black prospective customer about being the barber, in order to turn him away, and this is how he's defending himself.

Ah thank you. Like ita, I was failing to see the story. So this is more like the urologist who put up a sign in his office saying he won't treat anyone who votes Democratic.

Oh, dude. THAT is wrong and messed up. Bigtime.

Mea obvious culpa: I didn't click or read the article but stupidly assumed the headline told me everything.

know what I enjoy? sweeping my driveway. doesn't take that long, but there are visible results and is a wee bit of exercise.

There had to be legal rulings that barbers and hairstylists couldn't turn away customers because of their race.

Hmmph. I'm a race-based haircut shopping customer, and I make no bones about it. It's almost like expecting a phlebotomist to take my x-ray.

Marketed retouching service. Like the commenters claim, it's really not that rare. Just that the vendor is making a big noise about it. I'd love to see what I'd end up looking like if they threw all the resources at me that they throw at any standard clothing/glamour shoot. I just wouldn't use them as representations of myself.

I'd totally do boudoir pics if I had anyone to give them to. But it's not like there aren't pictures of me in swimsuits and underwear on the interwebs anyway.

msbelle reminds me I need to sweep out my garage. Maybe when I finish working.

It is beautiful sunshine with a bit of a chill in the air. Forecast is that we will have snow this afternoon. And I had the top down on the car yesterday. I thought Bay Area weather was changeable.