New Beauty Shop .. Same Old Clientele!

Sometimes you have to create your clients from scratch!

Made this one for Jay Seaver, and the picture had a homey / old school feel to it, even though it's probably an AI image .. I found it on Pinterest .. and it lent itself well to my ideas of the Barber Shop when I was a child. Guys were regulars who walked in at a same time each week without an appointment. Who needed one, right? If they were busy, the guys hung out and looked at nudie magazines, and maybe laid down an illegal bet (my barber apparently was also in with a bookie, as my grandmother used to gamble through him) before it was your turn in the chair. My mom would drop me off, as it really wasn't a place for women, and I'd wait at the large storefront window for when she'd drive up to pick me up. I loved it when the buzzing clippers would tickle my neck .. it was so thrilling that just the sound of it would give me goosebumps!

By the time I was in my teens, the barber shop was gone, and I usually got my hair cut (rather infrequently, as I had long hair through to my late 20's) at the same place my parents got theirs done, at a unisex salon. My dad worked as a contractor so he'd done work for the owner, so we frequently her place as well. But the old memories never faded away, and there were fantasies of falling asleep and waking up with a teased up perm with lots of hair spray and a face full of makeup creeping into my brain from time to time, I must confess!

Anyway, I wanted to tap into that feeling and give it the usual Dee spin .. what if that joint wasn't there anymore, or it'd become a 'hair salon' instead? That's what the caption is, more or less. Jay is a long time bachelor, so I included that into the caption, and loves old-time movies, so that also factored into the story. I wasn't implying that he was gay, though I guess you could read into that. Rumors be rumoring, right? So, the cliches of the 1950's - 1970's were in effect there too. I mean, the whole, "wife gets hair done and dressed up to go out, and hubby doesn't notice at all," part in the middle.

Here's a bit of what I wrote in the post for Jay:  It's been said that it's all about "location, location, location!" but sometimes you need to make sure there's enough customers in the demographic you wish to reach that is available in your neighborhood. Marketing research and all that .. maybe they'll be a survey at the end of your appointment!

So yeah, there's been stories and captions of this sort before, and here's another. I make no apologies. Sometimes you have to go with a classic set-up and let it wash over you. I hope you enjoy it as well!