Hair Cuts

Decades ago a husband and wife gave a talk in church. They stood at the podium together to deliver their message. I don't remember the topic. In passing the husband mentioned his wife cut his hair and it was very sweet time together. What went through my head was, "That's nice for them. We have different kind of sweet times together."  Joe's take away - "I want you to cut my hair!"

I resisted his entreaties. I didn't have much confidence; I'd never cut hair before and didn't really have a desire to learn. Joe and I could have sweet times together in other ways. 

Then we decided to go on a mission for Jesus Christ and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Money was going to be tight. It made sense that I should learn how to cut Joe's hair. One of our friends was a beautician. She agreed to teach me how to give a haircut. Joe eagerly told her he wanted to cut my hair. The evening arrived. We went over to their house for our lessons. She instructed me as I cut Joe's hair. Then it was Joe's turn to try his skills on my hair. I was wearing it pretty short so there was more involved than just cutting around the bottom of a bowl so to speak. After a few minutes, Amy gently said to me, "You might want to find someone in Nassau to cut your hair." Joe's fine motor skills have never been his strong suit - and where scissors and hair are involved you need more than a willingness to please. 

Amy advised me what to purchase. We packed our supplies and headed off to Nassau. I found someone to cut my hair. She did it much shorter than I was used to. A woman at church said I had a "man's haircut!"

I cut Joe's hair. He's very accepting and wasn't as worried about how it looked as I was. The haircuts were OK, not great. Each week the four younger missionaries and we met to discuss missionary work. At one of these meetings Joe announced that I cut hair and I'd be glad to cut everyone's hair. I have to admit I wasn't thrilled about this offer.  To make matters more stressful, the mission president and other church leaders were coming to the island the next week - and I didn't want to be responsible for 5 missionaries with bad haircuts!

Missionaries have what's called a preparation day once a week. This is 2/3 of a day to run errands, do laundry, clean the apartment, write letters, perhaps play a bit - and cut hair. By the end of our mission I had given a lot of haircuts on preparation day.

Picture on right - cutting a missionary's hair on our front porch in Nassau

That was about 17 years ago. When we came home, Joe wanted me to continue cutting his hair. I have fairly consistently, but my confidence hasn't increased all that much. Fortunately Joe still isn't picky about how his hair looks - and it grows quickly - nice to know in case I don't do too well. The last few years Joe's had a fair number of skin problems on his face and it's very tender. He prefers to have me around his face with scissors and a comb rather than some stranger. Sweet times together.

So - that's the story about me and hair cutting.