I've Finally Found a Barber

So I've finally found a barber in Ewa Beach.  Up until now I've gone to Fantastic Sam's or Supercuts but haven't really liked them.  Besides being outrageously expensive and them never cutting my hair the way I wanted, I always felt that I just didn't belong.  I think it was the Hawaiian, haole thing.  The barbershop is Teddy's Barbershop in Ewa Beach.  Don't try liking him on Facebook.  You won't find him.  I've seen the shop a couple of times when we have gone to the beach at the end of Fort Weaver Road.  Of course, you have to keep your eyes peeled for it.  There is a small sign above the door and the barber pole is nearly hidden by the papaya tree.  I've intended to stop by and see if it were really a barbershop.  I guess it was the fact that it had a papaya tree growing in the front and that it looked like someone's personal residence that has make me doubt.

I guess that is one of the things that caught my eye.  It looked rather homey.  For the longest time, years in fact, I have gravitated to people who would cut my hair in their homes.  I think I started this habit when we first moved to La Habra, California back in 1988.  I have had such great hair stylists, usually from the ward.  I have greatly appreciated each one.

Anyway, I walked up to the gate just in front of the door and called in as I opened it to go in.  I wanted to make sure that it was indeed a shop and I wasn't walking into someone's front room.  Sure enough, Teddy was in the shop waiting for his next customer.  I'm guessing Teddy, a Hawaiian of Philipino decent, was was in his eighties.  I'm guessing that because on the mirror in front of the only station in the room was a stencil that said, "In loving memory of Marina Pascual Tobias, Sept 1929 to July 2006".  If that were his wife and they were about the same age, that would put him in his eighties. 

The building was of older Hawaiian construction, post and beam but the inside had paneling rather than being exposed to the outer sheeting.  The paneling was applied with screws and 16D nails.  The lower jalousies were open which was a good thing because there was no air conditioning to cool the room off and the uppers only let light in.  I don't think people clean them much here.  The flooring was peel and stick orange tiles with an octagonal pattern but it fit the decor of the rest of the room.

I think I 'm getting used to living here in Hawaii.  A lizard ran past us as I was in the chair.  That is feeling rather normal now.  On Sunday, a lizard ran across the clerk office wall at church and from time to time they run across the wall at home.  Doesn't everyone live that way, with lizards and all being part of the family?  I guess I'm not willing to close up the house.  The trade winds are so effective at keeping things cool and often out of doors living is indistinguishable from the in doors living.  It just all feels very Hawaiian.

So I told Teddy that I wanted a quarter inch left on the sides and an inch on the top.  I guess I was going for the Caesar look.  He then came around the chair and said, "It looks like you are going for the way my hair grows, from the top down."  You see, Teddy to is bald on the top.  I guess he thought to make that observation because I haven't shaved today and I don't have much hair left on the top.  So he was right.  My hair is growing down towards the bottom of my face from the top where it used to grow.  You know I have been itching to grow my beard again.  Maybe it's time to start.

I could tell that when Teddy started cutting my hair he was being conservative.  He didn't have at it like the barbers did when I went to basic training in the Army.  He started at the bottom with one set up clippers and worked his way up before he changed to another set of clippers.  I could tell that he didn't quite have the vision of what I had in mind.  I guess he was being a bit conservative.  It is easier for the customer to say take more off instead of trying to glue it back on.  I almost told him to go for broke but another customer, a local, came in.  I didn't feel like having him keep cutting.

He brought out the straight razor and cleaned up my sideburns, ears, and neckline.  He wiped off the shaving cream and rubbed in Barbasol shaving lotion.  I've decided there is nothing that makes you feel so manly as to have a barber shave your neck and rub you down with aftershave.  It smells so good.  He finished up by dusting me with powder.  He pulled out a brush that looked like a painter's brush but it had nice and soft bristles.

So much of Hawaii feels like it is caught in the sixties or seventies.  I was pleased to only pay $10.00.  Well, maybe that price was more like the eighties.  Never the less I was very pleased to pay only $10.00.  It was worth that much and every bit more.  You know maybe I will grow my beard again.  I've finally found a barber who can help me keep it groomed and not cause me to break the bank.  I walked away feeling very satisfied that I found someone I could trust and I hoped could be my Hawaiian barber friend.