Haircut

Sometimes I wonder whether I was meant to be straight. I often still have that unreconstructed straight guy attitude that a bloke shouldn't worry too much about his appearance. What happened at the hairdressers yesterday is a perfect example.

With an important business trip scheduled for next week, I decide to get my hair cut. After all, I want to make a good impression on all the clients that I'm going to be meeting. Having phoned up the day before and arranged a 9am appointment I'm one of their first customers, and while I'm waiting for one of the staff to wash my hair, the ageing male hairdresser starts talking to me.

"Do you want me to cut it short?" he asks, smiling at me sitting there in my gym shorts and t-shirt.

"Uh huh," I reply casually, "I suppose short is good for the summer :-)."

"How short do you want it?"

My immediate reaction is 'How am I meant to know?', or 'Am I bothered?', and 'Stop making this difficult and just give me a smart haircut!'.

"Well, about average," I reply weakly.

"OK, well I guess I'll give you a number three round the sides then," he says. I guess he's used to guys like me who don't want to be seen worrying too much about their appearance, guys that would prefer a barber to a hairdresser, guys that are scared to take too much interest in their hair in case anyone thinks that they're gay.

But I am gay! And I have no concerns about who knows either. So why is it that I don't take a more active interest in my appearance, why aren't I up to date on the latest skin moisturising techniques, why does boyfriend number 2 always feel he has to take me shopping to buy me some clothes so that he won't mind being seen in public with me?

The thing that made me conscious of my behaviour yesterday was this cute looking guy, probably aged around 30, who was in the hairdressers at the same time as me. I noticed this guy when I first walked in and decided that he was probably straight, but for some reason it wasn't until my hairdresser had already started to cut my hair that this guy sat down in the seat next to me for his haircut.

"What can I do for you today mate?" asks the male hairdresser, who's probably a similar age to his cute client.

"Well I can't decide whether to have leave it long or have it cut shorter," replies the guy, with a slight angst in his voice. "My friends in the pub last night were telling me to get it cut short, but I quite like it long like this. Today I just got up and gave it a wash before coming here, that's why it's such a mess at the moment! What do you think?"

And I was able to spot that at that moment the cute guy caught the eye of his male hairdresser in the mirror. A guy asking another guy for advice about his hair seems so un-masculine to me, so inappropriate even to ask a hairdresser and to catch his eye, so gay! But I guess it's just metrosexual, not gay. If any readers have any suggestions as to how to cure this nasty affliction which sometimes makes me think and act in such a straight blokely manner, please let me know!