Do you remember the essays of those country hairdressers?

With the development of society, people live a well-off life. Men, women and children all want to go to a high-end hair salon to tidy up their looks. Hairdressing is the "top priority" in life. Young people often change their hair styles and colors to make themselves fresh and handsome. Even an 80-year-old woman should dye her hair and trim her eyebrows, and dress herself as young as possible. Barbers are also known as beauticians. People have long forgotten that in the old society, under the influence of feudal ideas, those rural people were regarded as inferior hairdressers and lived a humble and miserable life. Those who just learned to shave their heads and lost their ancestors in the whole family were not allowed to enter the old grave for eight generations.

-inscription

"Everyone knows that I am a horse. When I was thirteen, I went to school to shave my head. Before liberation, I could not make a living by shaving my head. I carried this baggage everywhere, went south to Laohekou, and came back to pass through Xinzhou. My uncle, my uncle, my aunt and my uncle all say that I have been a farmer for generations. You shouldn't learn this. I'll keep whoever I go. "

A Henan opera aria in "The Horse Shaves its Head" brought me back to those old times, and I was deeply lost in thought.

When I was very young, rural people were in a state of poverty and backwardness. Poor land and backward economy lead to material shortage. Farmers generally live a life of lack of clothes and food, and they are also short of money. As Ma sang, those rural hairdressers are considered extremely poor. No matter how cold the weather is and how hot the summer is, in order to make a living, they carry burdens everywhere, and their relatives dislike them, and whoever goes will stay.

At that time, in the countryside, we shaved a bald head 10 cents and a foreign flat head 15 cents. Even so, you can't earn a few dollars a day, especially in famine years, when farmers have a hard life, and most people don't have the spare money to shave their heads and get a haircut.

After the people's commune was established, the branch secretary of our brigade tried to kill two birds with one stone in order to facilitate the masses, save labor and reduce expenses, and mobilized the only barber in the brigade, Uncle Wang, to give haircuts to members of more than a dozen natural villages in the whole brigade.

What's uncle Wang's name? I don't know. I only know that everyone calls him "Wang Shatou". Uncle Wang is from Dapizhuang, our brigade. He is in his forties and has a round face with a smile. He is short and fat, and he is very kind and kind. He has a son who is a little silly and follows his apprentice.

Uncle Wang accepted the arrangement of the brigade, went to which village to shave his head, and the production team took turns to deliver meals to each household. In this way, they no longer have to wander around carrying poles, endure hunger and cold, drink water and chew steamed bread, and wait for guests. At least they eat a bowl of hot meals three times a day, and members no longer have to worry about raising money for haircuts, so they can also make time to work more, saving time and money.

Children who grow up in the countryside have never seen the world since childhood. No matter what you hear or see, you feel novel. In addition, I am a very persistent child with a very good memory. When I hear what adults say, I will observe and discover, and I will be steadfast in my heart. My mother said I was a stupid girl.

When I was five or six years old, I often heard adults say: Who said the matchmaker was a daughter-in-law? One of them didn't like it. Adults say it's hot scraping, but it's dry. It's impossible to scrape the pole. Describe someone's face as black as a knife cloth. I am very entangled in my heart. I want to know everything clearly as I get older. Seeing uncle Wang with a shaved head carrying a burden, I quickly stood in front of others and saw their things clearly. At first glance, haha, the pole for shaving the head is really not long. One end is a wooden box with a broken luggage roll on it, and the other end is a small charcoal stove, like a thin barrel. It contains hot water for shaving, and two shiny and dark clothes are hung on the head of the pole. Cloth strips, as adults say, hang on the pole head. It is a barber's symbol, so people will know it is a barber when they see it. Adults say that long poles are generally more flexible. Walking with both ends up and down can relieve the pressure on the shoulders, but the water will spill out and you can only pick it with a short pole and press it firmly on your shoulders. Barbers all know that they are inferior and despised. They can go to that village to have their hair shaved, but they can only bring their own hot water.

People who used to shave their heads in rural areas are not like now. Barbers wear white coats and have many procedures. Blowing, dyeing and ironing are all electrified. At that time, there were not so many tools, hair dryers, advanced conditioners, elastin, shampoo and so on. And there is not even a minimum white coat. In that wooden box, there are only some simple tools, an old pair of scissors and a razor. Used to sweep stubble, a pair of broken scissors, a millstone, a black apron, a black towel, and some messy repair tools. The most exquisite is the small ear scoop.

At that time, rural people didn't have too high requirements for hairdressers' skills, and hairdressers didn't receive professional training, but they had some skills to make a living. Generally, women in rural areas don't get a haircut, but save their hair at 80 cents. Between them, you cut me and I cut you, not too particular about cutting well and cutting badly. Those middle-aged men and old men simply shaved their heads, narrowed their faces and shaved their faces, and they all enjoyed it. Only those young big boys, in order to find a partner, pay attention to it accordingly and ask for a flat head. Uncle Wang must be extra careful. Occasionally, due to technical problems, the management is stumbling and uneven, like a dog eating, complaining and muttering. In order to save money, plus uncle Wang's apologetic smile, it is a thing.

Every time Uncle Wang comes to our village, he goes straight into the cowshed where his father feeds cows. Father always greets them warmly when they are indoors in winter and under the trees in the yard in summer. Every time he comes here, he will wash his sleeves first and wash his father's hair with the cleanest water. After washing, Uncle Wang held a dark knife cloth in his hand and quickly closed the razor.

In fact, uncle Wang was assigned to each village in turn, and there were many shady places. No matter how bad the weather is, no matter how far he walks, he will carry a heavy load. No matter what kind of person or head, no matter how reluctant he is, as long as people are gone, there is no reason not to care.

What bothers Uncle Wang most is that the bald men in our village don't have much hair, but they are very troublesome. Some of them stutter, one is white and the other is black, and some of them haven't stuttered yet. They have abscesses, which are washed very strongly and have an unpleasant smell, which makes Uncle Wang sick. There are also some children whose heads are covered with lice and their eggs are shiny. If it's shaved off, you should dump the whole bucket of hot water before burning it, or you will be angry if you are seen. At dinner, Uncle Wang went to the river to wash his hands and washed them again, but what spilled on half of his coat sleeve could not be cleaned.

Is it the barber's turn to eat? It's just two side dishes. When he meets a kind family, he will cook some good meals, eat a steamed stuffed bun with flowers, drink a corn soup, and sit at a small square table to eat decently. In case there is a sarcastic family, he will move a stool and put a pickle or two on it, and a bowl of sweet potatoes will be left out in the cold. Sometimes you get fooled. I remember Uncle Wang and they were sent to our neighbor's house. While they were eating, the neighbor's brother suddenly blew out the kerosene lamp, and the room was opaque. The neighbor's brother deliberately pretended not to find a match and said naughtily; Lighting a lamp costs too much oil. If you don't light the lamp, see if you can eat your food in your nose. Uncle Wang and others can only drink some soup and chew some steamed bread with bowls, but they can't see food.

I remember that in the summer when I was eight years old, I wanted Uncle Wang to cut my ears short. Who knows uncle Wang was so worried that he cut me into a small part, and they didn't have a mirror. When I got home, my mother said happily, look at Lao Wang's craftsmanship and cut my little girl's hair into a young man's head!

Uncle Wang is so ashamed! Just lift your face and laugh silly. At that time, the brigade called on the masses to cooperate, and many people from other villages came to work in our village, treating me like a boy and making a lot of jokes. I was too ashamed to go out for a long time, and I never dared to ask Uncle Wang for a haircut again.

Nowadays, with the development of society, people live a well-off life. Men, women and children all want to go to a high-end hair salon to tidy up their looks. Hairdressing is the "head" and other major events in life. Young people like to change their hair styles and colors frequently to make themselves fresh and handsome. Even an 80-year-old woman should dye her hair, get a haircut and trim her eyebrows, and try to dress herself young and beautiful. Barbers are also respected as beauticians, respected and earning a lot of money. The hairdressing industry has become a sought-after and enviable industry.

Gone are the days when barbers were regarded as inferior and eight generations were not allowed to enter the old grave!