How important are you? So important that only other important people are permitted to speak to you? So eminent your hair must be snipped in monastic silence?
I ask because hair stylist Kati Hakomeri has introduced a “silent service” at her salon, Parturi Kati, in Helsinki. Clients can book the online option: “A haircut without talking. After the consultation you can be on your own, recharge your batteries and relax”. Hakomeri says she’s an introvert herself, and her clients could be busy professionals or exhausted mothers.
What’s interesting (and perhaps telling) is how the idea of the silent chop has been embraced in some quarters as a long overdue liberation from a terrible ordeal. As in: finally to be granted some peace – a moment of serenity in my arduous existence!
Is a little perspective in order? I doubt people’s stylists have been demanding their views on The Iliad as they plug in the hair-straighteners.
It turns out that silent haircuts have been around for a while: there are salons offering the service from Australia to North Carolina. A couple........