VftSW; Emperors

I noticed a couple of black guys waiting to get their hair cut.  I did not think much about it.  No saying who will come to Emperors barbershop at a Southcenter Mall.  The place was busy!  The first chair was a big black guy with a black customer. 

“Need a haircut? “ He asks loudly and cheerfully as he waves me in.

There is a black guy and dark-skinned Asian lounging at the end of a busy line of chairs.  The black guy, named Ethan, waved me back.  I asked for it short but still touching the top of my ears.  Usual chit-chat and then to business.  I relaxed and finally got a chance to look around.  The walls were hand painted with massive street art, which was then covered by the usual mirrors and equipment needed for a barbershop.  (First actual barbershop For me in twenty-five years.  Back home they are all hair salons.)  Ethan was entertaining the whole place with good natured jabs at the barber in the first chair.  Asian guy was glaring at me which is when I noticed the equipment.  Rather than the usual folksy dresser drawer to hold the barber’s equipment, it was a mechanic tool box.  That explained the compressed air hoses coming  down from the ceiling and the Checkered Flag black and white tiled floor. 

Ethan chatted away as he bounced the shears off my head, sort of like jabbing at my  hair instead of the normal long smooth sweep I am use to.  Even though he had a customer in his chair the Asian guy was still glaring at me.  I glared back for a while then glanced around for something else to look at.  They had one of those posters showing the different styles they could do.  You know, so you can just point at the one you want.  Like sixty photos.  All the models were black.  I am a little slow, I was in a Black Barbershop!  

I recalled a short article I read once about “White Privilege”. Yeah, it is a racial slur by the authoress didn’t mean it that way.  Her examples were things like, if I went to the drugstore for bandaids I could probably find one that matched my skin tone.  Not always the case for her.  She also pointed out that is she went to get her hair cut there was no promise that they would know how to  cut her curly tight hair. Apparently Ethan habitually cut hair her way.  

It was a great hair cut; shears, scissors,  razor and gel.  Then he trimmed my mustache and eyebrows something the women at the hair salon, never think to do.  He ended the haircut with a handshake and senior discount.

Best haircut in two and half decades at Emporers at Southcenter in Seattle