A retired barber on my route made me rethink how I handle hot towel time

I was delivering mail on Tuesday and this old guy, must be 80, waves me over from his porch. He saw my clipper case in the truck and asked if I cut hair on the side. I said yeah, weekends at a buddy's spot in Tacoma. He told me he ran a barbershop for 40 years and never timed a hot towel under 3 minutes. I always rush it at like 90 seconds to keep the line moving. He said the towel is the part people remember, not the fade. Then he showed me his old hand towel warmer from the 70s, still works. I tried his method on my last 3 clients, one of them literally said it felt like a spa. Makes me wonder how many other little things I'm rushing through just to save a minute. Anyone else ever get schooled by an old timer on something they thought they had figured out?

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1 Comment

the_cameron26d ago

Man, that's the thing nobody talks about, the slow parts are what build the trust, not the speed of the cut. You're out here perfecting your fade while he's got a whole memory tied to a warm towel.