The Day I Shaved My Head (or Own Your Baldness!)
Hi… this is Hal in Philly with another ridiculous episode of It’s Easy When You Know Hal
Today, I’m going to tell you about the the day I shaved my head. Well, actually I’ll tell you about the day I shaved my head in a minute. First, let me talk about when I had hair.
I was very attached to my hair. It was thick and curly and very long. It looked like Jimi Hendrix’s hair. My friends all called it a Jew-fro at one point but then it got even longer still, to the point where it was completely unmanageable.
Meanwhile, my mother, unbeknownst to me was secretly going out of her mind over it. My brother Elliot also had extremely long hair. He had his styled into what men’s hairstylist called a “Shag”. Truth is, styled or not, My mom thought we both looked pretty shaggy, but especially me. One evening as we all sat around the dinner table, ready to dig in, she looked at my brother. Then at me.
And burst into tears. I had no idea why she was crying, but she suddenly expressed how upset she was at how out of control I had let my hair get. At least Elliot got his hair styled. I hadn’t been to a barber in years. So, she finally just lost it! I couldn’t stand to see my mother so upset. So I made ups my mind to get it under control.
The next day, my friend offered to take me to look for a place to get my hair styled. He had just gotten this badass 750 4-stroke Honda motorcycle and I had already planned to go for a test drive with him to check out his new bike. Oh, did I mention he was insane? The first thing he did was take us over the Tacony Palmyra bridge and then hit the throttle the moment we touched down in New Jersey. We were already going about 70 when we approached two 18 wheelers, ginormous trucks in the process ov passing each other when my friend FLOORED it and passed them straight through the middle. I nearly shit my pants.
Eventually, we came across this place. I’ll never forget the name. How could I forget the name of the place where I got all my hair chopped off? It was called Thomas Sierra’s Theater of Hair Design. How could I not choose a place with a name like that. FYI - I just searched Google. Not there.
I’ll go through my box of photos and see if I can find before and after pictures for the show notes.
Admittedly, Thomas did a remarkable job. My mother was extremely happy with the results, but the true test came later. I was at a restaurant with my brother later that same week, and he asked our waitress which one of us she thought was better looking. She picked me. Woo hoo!
Now fast forward to, oh, I don’t know, 1996 or 97 maybe? I was tending bar at Jerry’s Famous Deli in Studio City with my co worker, Kathi. Kathi Grace. She also had become half of a duo with me, performing my originals around town at bars and coffee houses. Later she would go on to form a duo of her own, The Mush Puppies, with her boyfriend.
Kathi admittedly liked the guys in the hair bands. One day we got in a conversation about her preference for the guys with the big 80’s style hair. She said she prefers them to the old stodgy looking guys at the bar who looked like bankers or studio executives. The just weren’t her type. She said she’d might consider a guy with shorter hair but then she added… What I don’t understand is these guys with the combovers. They have a few long strands on one side and thy to cover this large bald spot by combing them to the other side. It just looks stupid. And they still look bald. Only worse. If they’re going bald they should just shave their head. I say, OWN YOUR BALDNESS! Quote-Unquote.
Women love a nice smooth clean-shaven head.
The next day, I as I was shaving my face, I was staring at my reflection in the mirror and I just said,
“Fuck it!”
I shaved my head and I never looked back.
That reminds me, when we I was a little kid, my mother took us shopping for Fathers Day. She got a poster for my dad which she allowed us kids to present to him and it hung on the kitchen door for years afterwards. It read: God only made so many perfect heads. The rest, he gave hair.
So, if you’re going bald and have been having a hard time deciding what to do about it, remember it not a difficult choice. Shave your head… Own your baldness!
It’s Easy When You Know Hal
Hi… this is Hal in Philly with another ridiculous episode of It’s Easy When You Know Hal
Today, I’m going to tell you about the the day I shaved my head. Well, actually I’ll tell you about the day I shaved my head in a minute. First, let me talk about when I had hair.
I was very attached to my hair. It was thick and curly and very long. It looked like Jimi Hendrix’s hair. My friends all called it a Jew-fro at one point but then it got even longer still, to the point where it was completely unmanageable.
Meanwhile, my mother, unbeknownst to me was secretly going out of her mind over it. My brother Elliot also had extremely long hair. He had his styled into what men’s hairstylist called a “Shag”. Truth is, styled or not, My mom thought we both looked pretty shaggy, but especially me. One evening as we all sat around the dinner table, ready to dig in, she looked at my brother. Then at me.
And burst into tears. I had no idea why she was crying, but she suddenly expressed how upset she was at how out of control I had let my hair get. At least Elliot got his hair styled. I hadn’t been to a barber in years. So, she finally just lost it! I couldn’t stand to see my mother so upset. So I made ups my mind to get it under control.
The next day, my friend offered to take me to look for a place to get my hair styled. He had just gotten this badass 750 4-stroke Honda motorcycle and I had already planned to go for a test drive with him to check out his new bike. Oh, did I mention he was insane? The first thing he did was take us over the Tacony Palmyra bridge and then hit the throttle the moment we touched down in New Jersey. We were already going about 70 when we approached two 18 wheelers, ginormous trucks in the process ov passing each other when my friend FLOORED it and passed them straight through the middle. I nearly shit my pants.
Eventually, we came across this place. I’ll never forget the name. How could I forget the name of the place where I got all my hair chopped off? It was called Thomas Sierra’s Theater of Hair Design. How could I not choose a place with a name like that. FYI - I just searched Google. Not there.
I’ll go through my box of photos and see if I can find before and after pictures for the show notes.
Admittedly, Thomas did a remarkable job. My mother was extremely happy with the results, but the true test came later. I was at a restaurant with my brother later that same week, and he asked our waitress which one of us she thought was better looking. She picked me. Woo hoo!
Now fast forward to, oh, I don’t know, 1996 or 97 maybe? I was tending bar at Jerry’s Famous Deli in Studio City with my co worker, Kathi. Kathi Grace. She also had become half of a duo with me, performing my originals around town at bars and coffee houses. Later she would go on to form a duo of her own, The Mush Puppies, with her boyfriend.
Kathi admittedly liked the guys in the hair bands. One day we got in a conversation about her preference for the guys with the big 80’s style hair. She said she prefers them to the old stodgy looking guys at the bar who looked like bankers or studio executives. The just weren’t her type. She said she’d might consider a guy with shorter hair but then she added… What I don’t understand is these guys with the combovers. They have a few long strands on one side and thy to cover this large bald spot by combing them to the other side. It just looks stupid. And they still look bald. Only worse. If they’re going bald they should just shave their head. I say, OWN YOUR BALDNESS! Quote-Unquote.
Women love a nice smooth clean-shaven head.
The next day, I as I was shaving my face, I was staring at my reflection in the mirror and I just said,
“Fuck it!”
I shaved my head and I never looked back.
That reminds me, when we I was a little kid, my mother took us shopping for Fathers Day. She got a poster for my dad which she allowed us kids to present to him and it hung on the kitchen door for years afterwards. It read: God only made so many perfect heads. The rest, he gave hair.
So, if you’re going bald and have been having a hard time deciding what to do about it, remember it not a difficult choice. Shave your head… Own your baldness!
It’s Easy When You Know Hal
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