Nothing throws a wrench in your game with the birds worse than a bad haircut. One careless slip of the clippers by an untrained hand and you could go from riding the beaver to riding the bench - that’s why it’s extremely important to be selective with who you let shorn your locks. You need a professional. A professional with experience, a steady hand, that thinks before they shear, that stalemates himself at chess when the shops slow. You need a good barber.

Now don’t be fooled, there’s a lot of impostors out there nowadays. Just because someone sets up shop in a trendy area of town and recreates the barbershop aesthetic doesn’t mean they can be trusted with a “precision fade“. That’s just good marketing: frills and gimmicks, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a salon in disguise.

You’re after “The real McCoy”. Someone that keeps the conversation to a minimal, concentrates on the task at hand, and gets the job done quick and right. Someone that doesn’t waste time blowing lines, massaging your scalp with peppermint shampoo or recommending fancy hair care products. Someone whose shop (much like themselves) is old, authentic, and weathered by the passing of generations. Someone that keeps his combs in Barbicide that hasn’t been changed in a decade and believes that a good haircut shouldn’t cost more than $12.