I saw this guy as he was walking out the door of Butta Qutz barbershop on MacArthur Blvd. He looked like he’d just gotten a fresh clean up, but then again, he probably looked pretty much the same way before his haircut. This is all because of a phenomenon that–although I’ve been getting my Afro trimmed by local barbers since 1986–I only came to understand recently. This is going to sound incredibly stupid to brothers and sisters who are less oblivious than I am, but I’ll explain anyway: I get my own hair cut about every 8 weeks, but according my my barber  (shout out to Lance at Graham and Company, also on MacArthur), a lot of his clients get their hair cut every week; and some even get it cut twice a week, just to keep the “line” nice and clean.

After learning of the fastidious hair habits of so many of Lance’s clients, I felt like a total slacker. I’m doing well to get into the barber once a month. At one point in my life, while I was teaching at the University of Oregon, I went for several years without a haircut, because the nearest barber who could cut Black hair was nearly two hours away.

In any event, this hair on the man in this photo looked awesome, with a clean and freshly cut line than ran right across his forehead. With that level of attention to detail, something tells me he’ll be back a lot sooner than a month from now. I’m guessing he’s probably a once-a-week guy.

Ajuan Mance