If you didn’t see Haircuts today, check it out tomorrow. Please. For me?

I got a haircut today from a very nice girl named Britney, I think she was 10, and I have to say, I really, really enjoyed how profoundly… uncomfortable the whole experience was. It was like the first day of school—I didn’t quite know what to do or expect, and spent a lot of time trying to play it cool and like I wasn’t totally fucking freaked out about what this little kid was doing to my hair. It’s about trust, right? Trust in the children. Ignore the fact that she just said “oops.” Pretend I really don’t care that much about my hair, because it’s just, like, dead cells, man. And breathe…

Throw in cameras and spectators everywhere, and my comfort zone was pretty much shot to shit. Which is, you know, the point, as an aspect of Mammalian Diving Reflex’s philosophy hinges on the idea that adults don’t necessarily have the right to feel “comfortable” at all times; that there are far, far worse things that can happen than embarrassment.

Some PICA blogger was distracting my kid with questions while she was cutting my hair, so I was fully prepared to blame them if things went wrong, but in fact I got a perfectly servicable trim that goes nicely with the home dye job. I can’t find a camera cord but once I do I’ll throw some photos from today up (or if anyone wants to e-mail me some at ahallett@portlandmercury.com that would be excellent).

Check out Mammalian Diving Reflex’s Haircuts by Children, tomorrow from noon-4 pm at Rudy’s Barbershop, 212 NW 13th