Barber Shop Quartet

Day 1:

Today my group attempted to make entree for our Intro to Anthro ethnography project. The assignment is to choose a public place in town and observe and participate in the culture of the place. We chose to go to City Barber Shop, a little hole in the wall shop that you can easily drive right by (and we did indeed). The 4 of us- 3 girls, 1 guy- walked into the shop with not much of a plan as far as what to do, hoping to just chat with the owner and see if it was ok if we used the location. As soon as we walked in, I knew it was the right place for our project. Upon opening the creaky old door labeled with a peeling "Men's Haircuts" sign, we were faced with a solid row of men, all ages, getting their hair cut by more men, while even more men sat waiting in chairs. Jackpot as far as the gender category of the report. The awkward factor shot through the roof, another reason why the location was so grand. (After all, what's an ethnography if you don't immerse yourself in a culture you don't feel entirely comfortable in?)

We stood there for a few moments, all four of us crammed into the little space there was, looking around and feeling completely overwhelmed. Interestingly, our only male ethnographer shrunk back behind the females, leaving us to do the talking. After far too many moments of feeling ridiculously out of place, I stepped up to the closest barber, an elderly man with white hair and a semi-scowl, and gave my spiel about being a student doing a project and needing a place to just talk to people and observe their interactions. He let me get through my speech, which Lily chimed in on to back me up, and then grumbled, "You'll have to talk to the man in the back; he's the owner."

So we all shuffled back to the somewhat more lively man in a pink shirt with short gray military-square hair. He immediately shot, "What are you selling?" We emphatically denied that statement and explained again. He listened, hardly even nodding, and we waited tensely to see his reaction. I think he might have mumbled that it would be alright after asking a few more questions, such as how long we would be there. I'm not sure how much the fact that three girls were approaching him or our being in his very much males-only shop in general bothered him, but he eventually gave us permission.

The man who was getting his hair cut by Willard (the owner) chimed in, in mostly incoherent tones, that we didn't look like we were in college. He pointed to Lily and I and said, "Those two in particular. You look like freshmen in high school." We were a bit confused because we didn't understand most of what he said, but we laughed nervously. He then told us how he used to teach. We managed to extract a little more intelligible information from him, such as that he was an elementary school teacher, mostly 5th grade, who taught all over the state. He also said something about San Marcos, but we weren't quite sure what it was.

It was interesting to watch how the barbers could do something as delicate as cut someone's ear hair while carrying on a conversation (albeit stilted) and give wary looks at the same time. Some of the patrons were actually much younger men than we expected, including some 20s-type Hispanic men and a middle aged man in hunting gear. (I'm going to have to note race, as this is an ethnography.)

I believe we made a mostly successful entree. I'm very grateful for our chat with the retired teacher, as I feel it gives us a little bit more legitimacy in our mission and also allowed a beginning to our rapport. Willard could see that our intentions were pure and that we could interact with his customers, and he seemed to relax a bit. In the future, we are going to go in smaller groups, and the girls are going to try to go with a guy in order to avoid any excessively uncomfortable situations. This set up will also allow us to spend more time there in a more natural manner, as we can wait for the said guy to get his hair cut while we chat with customers. I think it will be easier upon our return to the shop, as Willard will know who we are. I have this ideal vision of him growing accustomed to us and maybe even looking forward to our visits. I don't know if I'm allowed to say that in my field notes...