A Haircut You Can Set Your Watch To

The title of the this post was taken from my Grandpa Bob, God rest his soul. As some of the boys in our extended family got older and experimented with growing our hair longer, he would give us a hard time. One year at a family party, my cousin Drew showed up with a traditional haircut and Grandpa Bob said, "Ahh, there's a haircut you can set your watch to!" I still don't know exactly what he meant by that, but I'll never forget it.

Today 80 cosmetology students from Cuernavaca descended upon the house to provide hundreds of haircuts for the kids. The makeshift salon took place on the patio in front of the stairs that lead up to my room. There is no way I could pentetrate the crowd. All I could do was take a few picture through the fence.

In honor of the occasion I thought I would make some comments in relation to my observations of the kids' hairstyles. First of all, gel (pronounced "hell") is a key ingredient. Luckily most kids have access to a big vat of it in their dorm rooms. When the older kids get access to money, it's a priority on their shopping list. The Faux Hawk is also a popular style for the guys, but the word on the street is that it is fading. If a boy misbehaves, they will shave his head bald, as a sort of public castigation. I always watch my back when I see little guy with shaved head lurking around me. And for those of us with curly hair, "borrego" (sheep) is a common nickname. The kids haven't called me that to my face, but it's only matter of time.