Friends, even as you read these words, the old fashioned barber shop - truly an American institution - is facing an insidious attack which threatens its very existence. If things don't turn around, and fast, the barber shop as we know it will soon be nothing but a fond memory, like vinyl records and soda pop in real glass bottles. And what is it that threatens the continued existence of what used to be one of the places you could go in any neighborhood in this country and find real salt of the earth type Americans?
It's the rise of the metrosexual American male. That's right; it seems that for more and more men in this country, a simple haircut just isn't good enough anymore. They don't just want to look neat and clean. Oh, no. That might have been good enough for your dad and his generation, but times have changed. Nowadays it seems that more and more men want to get all gussied up and be pampered just like their wives and girlfriends. So, instead of heading for the good old barber shop, they're going to places with names like "grooming parlors" and, I kid you not, "spas."
How did this happen? Who can say? It certainly makes no logical sense. It seems like only yesterday that the average American male was quite content to sit around a real barbershop shooting the breeze about the local sports team with his neighbors, while thumbing through a 2 year old copy of Motor Trend or Sport Illustrated magazine, all while nursing a can of Coke or Pepsi. But not anymore. Now he's down at the "spa" drinking a glass of Chablis while he's receiving a pedicure by soaking his feet in a tank of fish called garra rufa, which nibble the dead skin away from his foot. While the tiny little carp dine on his bunions, he's discussing with his aesthetician whether or not he wants the whole package, or if he'll skip the bikini wax this time and just go with a manicure and a facial.
No, I'm not making any of this up. It's all true, even the part about the fish pedicure.
Don't let this happen to your town! Support your local barber shop! The future of America depends on it!
Gregory McDivitt writes for Rocket City Local, the premier Huntsville, Alabama directory online, and he would never go to anyone but a real barber to get his hair trimmed!
Check out Rocket City Local to find Huntsville, Alabama barbershops!
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