Most of you probably have a designated person who cuts their hair just so. Right? Someone you have trusted for years? I know I do. But one time, when in Rome … or rather Florence, Italy ...
I needed a haircut badly. My last haircut had grown out poorly and everyday was a challenge no longer fixable with my usual tools and talents. So, one day, on one of our walks to the market (a wonderful customary daily ritual), I saw a sign on a door for the Italian equivalent of a hairdresser, and I rang the bell. Someone buzzed me in and I went through the tall doors, across the atrium and down a scary set of stone steps into a lower-level space carved out of stone. I saw a handsome young man at the desk at the bottom of the stairs and proclaimed in my best Italian - “I need a haircut”. To which he responded, “When would you like to schedule it for?” and I said, “Do you have anything today?”
At the sound of this question, everyone in the place started laughing. It seems I had stumbled into a very elite salon in Florence, Italy. Little did I know that people waited months for an appointment to have their hair cut in this cave-like salon.
But they must’ve taken pity on me, because after getting a nod from the older man in the back corner, who I later found out was the owner, the good-looking young man at the desk at the bottom of the stairs looked through the book and said “can you come back at 3 o’clock?” To which I excitedly responded, “I certainly can!”
When I returned that afternoon, I waited 45 minutes for them to notice me, and then the older man himself said, “I’ll take her.” - Imagine, Stefano, the owner of this elite salon was going to cut my hair!
It was the most fun I’ve ever had getting a haircut. And when all was said and done, I loved how it looked and how it felt. Throughout the hour-long process Stefano talked about the shape of my head and the texture of my hair and how this was the only way (his way) my hair should be cut, ever! He said I should return in two weeks and he would finish fixing what had been done to my hair in the past. I commented sadly that in two weeks I would be back home in Phoenix, Arizona. Everyone in the salon laughed when he said I should still come back in two weeks, at whatever the cost, so he could complete his masterpiece!
What a superb experience!
I googled the place and the artist, after the fact, and saw just how famous he really was and I thought to myself, if only time and money were not an obstacle, I could pursue this silly adventure, fly back to Florence and allow Stefano to complete his masterpiece!