My mothers sister was a beautician and a very good one. She did the whole families hair and when it came time for me, she would say: Sit still or I’ll cut you GD ear off. She also told me my hair was Kinky and said I had nigger hair. She defended her use of the word nigger by saying she worked alongside black people and this is how they talked with one another.

Barry Morgan Haircut 1

My hair was and still is curly. My father came from an interracial community on the outskirts of Dover, Delaware where African Americans, Native Americans and whoever else that happened to fall in love with someone from the small town of Cheswold, Delaware had inter bred.

Barry Morgan Haircut 2

My mom fell in love with my father and began the arrangements for a wedding reception in a local restaurant. She gave them her soon to be last name of Morgan. Not the Morgan’s of Cheswold? the manager asked. Yes my mother said. I am sorry we only allow white people to hold their receptions here. When my mother told my father about this he blew up. We are white he said and they found another place to celebrate their union. Ironically, I later worked in this same restaurant as a bartender.

Barry Morgan Haircut 3

My father had a thing for cowboy movies. His heroes spent a good deal of time fighting off make believe Indians. He wore Jeans and shirts with mother of pearl snaps. The older he got the more Native American he looked and yet he never once admitted to me that he was anything but white. When I was a teenager my grandfather died and at the funeral, we were surrounded by folks with smooth olive skin from the community of Cheswold. There was a gathering afterward and amidst stories of Pop Pop I asked Just what is our heritage?” The room went dead and my Aunt Alice said: We don’t like to talk about that.

Barry Morgan Haircut 4

My mom, Joan and her sister, Margaret were Jersey girls of mostly German and Dutch descent. They moved to Delaware together and my Auntie Marge truly was a heck of a beautician. In 1995 Auntie Marge had an aneurysm and I have been cutting my own hair ever since.

Barry Morgan Haircut 5

I have three hairstyles: None, long and in between.

I started out to write a post about shaving ones own head. I wanted to talk about how the razor was similar to a chisel in the way that you have to feel the work through the tool. But my thoughts and memories got the better of me as I shed my own locks. This is not too surprising as haircuts are something of a spiritual journey.

For anyone who has never shaved their own head, I highly recommend it.