So the haircut I guess was fine enough and got the job done even though I didn’t feel communication was the greatest. The price was fair/little below average for the area/Boston in general.
But the environment was a different matter, to be honest. Everyone seemed congenial and friendly, but I guess walking around South End, I wouldn’t expect a place to be playing such blaring, loud music.
Also, the areas I was in were kept up well enough, but the room in the back (I think for hair drying, not sure?) looked filled with a bunch of junk and knick-knacks. It just looked a mess.
I expect a level of familiarity that may seem too unprofessional for some, and I anticipate guys being loose with their words at a barber shop compared to a salon (even though a woman was cutting hair there), but I really didn’t appreciate the kind of language used between barbers and the barbers and their friends that happened to crash there. It wasn’t as if it were just men and it was a corner shop; there were women there, as I mentioned, and I believe a young family, too.
Maybe it was because I was there on a Friday, but I was kind of confused when random guys started hanging out there, bringing beers from the liquor store, sipping Hennessy, and talking to barbers while they worked. I like a good drink (read: not those type of beers) like everyone else, but not when I’m handling razors to guys necks.
I’m not being a tattle-tale or whiner or spoil sport, I just thought the whole experience was really uncomfortable and unprofessional. Overall, everyone seemed friendly and agreeable, but I didn’t find that friendliness translate to the customer.