$40 Haircut vs. $20 Haircut: What's the Difference?
BIG difference – one is geared toward status signaling and the other towards practicality.
In terms of…
Quality of Hair Cut
They’re about the same. Can’t tell the difference. The barber/hairstylist skill is about the same.
So it obviously makes sense to go with the cheaper option as there is no incentive to go with the expensive/regular option.
But let’s dig deeper…
Scheduling an Appointment
One of the main reasons why I like going to the salon for a haircut was because I had built a relationship with the hairstylist.
He always finds a way to sneak me in his schedule as opposed to making me wait in line.
PLUS I can get a haircut as early as 8:30 AM – before normal business hours.
I find that to be a perk because I’m a morning person.
The barbershop on the other hand, while their service is more “professional” operates on normal business hours.
That means I have to adjust to their schedule.
If you were in my situation, which would you rather do?
Fill-Up the Dead Silence
The barber/hairstylist wants you to have the best treatment possible.
That includes getting into “get-to-know-you” questions or “what-are-you-doing-this-weekend conversations.”
It takes about 20-mins max for the $20 haircut while the $40 haircut takes about 60-mins.
That longer it takes, the longer you both have to try and hold a conversation.
I was a walk-in client at the $40-haircut shop – so there is obviously no customer-relationship built up yet.
That means, an hour worth of “small talk”.
I’m sure the barber who cut my hair had a hard time trying to connect with me because I’m awkward with small talks.
But for the hairstylist, we just say hi, I sit, he cuts, I pay, I go – done and done.
Now now, every customer is different and these hairstylists/barbers have to customize their approach according to their customer’s personality.
That’s not easy at all…#respect.
This is NOT for you
The $40 barbershop is meant for a group of people I do not associate myself with.
I was treated like a “bro”.
They got their Hip-Hop and RnB music going in the background or whatever type of music is considered “cool” these days.
90% of the customers and barbers belong to the same “crowd of people”.
I liked that. It is the kind of business I wanna run someday. No, not a barbershop but a business that caters to a specific crowd.
The $20 salon, on the other hand, is less “professional” in terms of the environment, chair, payment method, etc. BUT…
It provides me with more value that goes beyond the price I need to pay. It’s called CONVENIENCE.
However, if I was more geared into signaling to others that I associate myself to a specific crowd of people – then I would probably go with the barbershop.
After a while, I stopped trying to be “cool bro” – I was never successful at it anyway LOL!
I prefer to be a “pro” instead 😉
Idle Hands Are The Devil's Workshop
Getting stuff done earlier than expected creates this empty block in your schedule.
When that happens, I would try to find a way to fill up that block.
But I fill it up with time-wasting activities (videogames/social media) as opposed to just using that extra time to take a break and enjoy the “peace and quiet” of the moment.
This is my struggle with boredom – not knowing what do with the extra time because you didn’t plan for it.
Yes, I’m fully aware that I should be doing something more productive, but I couldn’t get myself into the right state to be productive.
You know when you tell yourself, “I just don’t feel like doing it”?
Well, that’s how I feel whenever I try to convince myself to do something more productive with the extra time I have.
I don’t have solid self-discipline and I’m aware of how irrational I can be at finding excuses to do “unproductive” things.
To be aware of this problem is a start. Then follow it up with little action steps to stop the bad habit from further development.
Then probably leverage what I learned from reading NLP – changing states in an instant.
Honesty and Empathy
I felt lucky yesterday for having cousins who are honest and empathetic in terms of attendance, cancellation and invitation of events.
We both understand the dilemma we put ourselves in when deciding who to invite into our event while the other party also have this dilemma of whether to go or decline the invitation.
In other words, we do not expect anything from each other because we both understand how our schedules are like and our priorities.
The truth/addressing the reality of things did not damage our relationship (as opposed to faking with each other) but instead, I think it strengthened it.
Sometimes, things look bad on the outside because we all have these pre-conceived interpretations of what that situation looks like.
But that’s exactly where the problem is, the people who see things from the outside do not understand what the reality is – only the people involved know exactly what’s happening.
Hence, who cares about what other people think?
The only people that matter is the people within that circle – the main characters of the plot.
A Year Ago This Week
I…
- talked about addiction + guilt
- dug deep into our refusal to accept accountability
- touched on the reasons why I read about human behavior
[Read more about it here]
Goal Update
Personal Projects
Finally applied for my Criminal Record Check.
Babyshower is also done and it was a success.
My CAD business’ official closure is still pending because I haven’t figured out how to file the value of my assets.
Health
I haven’t been able to do any workouts just yet. Things have gone a little too busy at work that I come home always feeling exhausted. Will try again this week.
I also stopped TRYING to do the 16-hr fast. The food cravings and inability to make a consistent schedule were too strong. I’m gonna wait until things stabilize as a lot of changes are about to come.
Finance
I’ve been meaning on doing my research on target date/lifecycle funds. However, things have been too busy lately that I decided to put it off for a while.
However, if there’s a chance, I’ll try to sneak it in my schedule.
The plan is to sign up for investment by the end of this month.
Please note that I’m talking about VERY SMALL investments – the kind that just gets you started to get the feel of investing.
If you want your money to make more money, then look into investing it as opposed to letting it sit in the bank.
