FISCHER – A hair-raising change

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

Once upon a time, on a Halloween long ago, I went out trick-or-treating with my best friend.

In between roaming the neighborhood for candy, my friend was apparently told to stop by his elder sister’s house so she could give him a haircut. When he was done, his sister asked if I wanted the same and me, thinking “Free haircut! My mom will appreciate that!” happily accepted. Thus, when I returned home from trick-or-treating, I did so with a bag full of candy and a fresh new buzz cut.

I don’t know that my mother overly approved or disapproved of my initiative, but she sure was surprised.

It’s a good memory, and one that has made a lasting impact.

So much so that I’ve made the Halloween haircut something of a tradition, letting my hair grow out through the year and then buzzing it off ahead of winter.

There is a method to the madness. While it may seem unintuitive to shorten your hair for the coldest months of the year, it does make stocking hats fit better and I don’t have to worry so much about hat head.

It’s also a neat little novelty to come home, look in the mirror, and say “Oh hey, I haven’t seen you in a while.” Like reconnecting with an old friend, except that friend is you.

That came out a lot sadder than I wanted it too, now that I think about it.

Anyway, I know a lot of people generally stick with one look more-or-less, but I’ve always enjoyed switching things up. The Halloween haircut isn’t a hard-and-fast rule for me, but it’s something I’ve done often enough that most people who know me aren’t overly shocked by it anymore.

Except now I’m living in a new city and have been growing my hair out for two years just to see how it looks. I haven’t had my hair this long since high school, so it’s been a fun little experiment.

But now the experiment is over and it’s finally time for the inevitable buzz.

I had to practically sign a waiver and provide proof of mental competency before my haircutter agreed to do the job. I’m sure I’ll be spending the next week or so getting double takes as people realign their mental image of what I look like.

For me, I’ll miss some things about the length. I liked how it looked, but it sure could be a hassle. Over the last few months I’ve definitely noticed that managing my hair has consumed an inordinate amount of my mental bandwidth just in the effort of keeping it out of my face. For a while now I’ve even had to keep a baseball cap on hand to hold my lengthy locks back while cooking or tinkering with a screwdriver or pretty much anything else that involves looking down.

Frankly, I’ll enjoy being able to walk outside on a windy day without impeded vision.

At least until it grows out again.

— Travis Fischer is a news writer for the Charles City Press and hopes he doesn’t need to use his photo I.D. for a while.