I don’t cut my hair often. I do it once, maybe twice a year. I have been told this is odd, and my friends and coworkers are usually shocked when I do it. There are a few reasons for this, which I will go over here.

Location

I live in China. I do not speak Chinese well. I know this is a terrible reason. I take photos of the haircut I like, and show them to the stylist. This is most often successful, but not always. I have had stylists over the years not know how to handle naturally wavy hair, and this caused them difficulty.

I can’t use this reason as a main reason for waiting as long as I do. There are some amazing hair dressers in China, and ones that speak English. I also ran into this issue when I lived in Korea. And I could speak Korean well enough to explain what I need. I often use this as an excuse for not cutting my hair often. Nonetheless, it is actually a lie I use to mask.

Sensitivities:

The reality is not that I don’t like getting my hair cut. I love having a nice short hair style. I do not like hair salons. One of my autistic traits is Hyper Sensitivity.

Any good hair stylist is trained to talk, and calm down their customers. Even in other countries, the hair stylists try to engage in conversation when possible. Then there is music playing in the salon, and hair dryers, and other tools. Too many types of sound make me antsy. I could focus on the music, or I could focus on the conversation with the stylist. But not both. Whichever one I choose will be suddenly interrupted by the sound of hair dryers and other devices. Which can be jarring.

I Really Do Not Like things touching my face. I get anxious about it. I shower away from the shower head, and wash my face with a cloth. I can control the cloth, and it is not as hard. So when they lay me down to shampoo my hair, it bothers me if it gets on my face. Even a little contact irritates me greatly. Or they are drying my hair and the towel rubs onto my temples, or forehead. It gives me the willies. Or when they are cutting my hair, a little bit falls on my nose. Hair also falls on my cheek or anywhere on my face. I need to quickly brush it off. but that leads me to the next problem.

It is not natural for me to be sitting still with sharp objects anywhere near my body. I have visions of losing an ear, or being sliced by razors. This is not just related to haircuts. In the kitchen, if anyone else has a knife or scissors, I need to be far away from them. I am afraid of losing a finger, or other appendage. And so I put a lot of mental energy into making sure I am extremely still. It is not natural for someone to allow sharp objects so close to their body, let alone their head. It terrifies me. Under that cape, I am holding my hands tightly. When I get up, you might see my ring impression on my other hand.

I used to get baffled by people who would put themselves through this torture on a monthly basis. Or worse, weekly. These people are weird.

Oddly enough, I believe my wife has these same hesitations as I do. Yet, she has a choice that I do not. Me. My wife actively avoids hair salons. For the last 2 decades, when she feels her hair is getting too long, she asks me to cut it. I am not a trained stylist. But she refuses to go to a salon. So I do my best every year.

One of many reasons why I feel my wife and I are amazing. We understand each other and do not force each other into things we can’t handle ourselves.