David gets a Haircut in La Harve France

freaky mannequins
Le` Salon
also Le` Salon
Dave gets the cut French style
oui - oui
a photo opp
side of the salon
the freaky cool mannequins again
a doll head gets a dry
balls of hair ... really odd

Is there enough time in your day for frivolity and silliness? Well, if not – then there should be. We rode our rented bikes to the maddest hair salon in all of Le have France today. I don’t mean mad as in angry – I mean mad as in wacky - how can one man have a museum devoted to haircutting next to their hair salon? – dead protein that grows out of our head – we trim it, dye it, curl it, groom it, wash it, style it and if we didn’t have it we would buy it. This fella – “Daniel” – owns “Salon Des Navigateurs” - “Coupe masculine – hair Dresser” he practices a lost art, a craft from an era gone by – he grooms your hair with antiquated scissors and then shaves your neck with a straight razor that must (in all seriousness) be at least fifty years old. Daniel was the barber for the French military years ago and he has a devoted cliental of all ages. Our first trip to Le harve was when we found his shop – but we did not have enough time for Dave to get a haircut there – so we waited a month until our return to see Daniel the barber. His shop houses so much nautical and hair accruements that I find it gravity defying that the sheer weight of all items does not bring the walls down into rubble. He is gracious and kind with see through blue eyes – he speaks in French – a customer lets us know it will be about one hour wait time for Daniel to cut David’s hair – we have a seat. I decide to nose around and on the way to the toilet I am in the “Hair museum” Good God Man! I am slightly creped out by the still mannequins posed in position of haircutters with other mannequins sitting in the chairs as if to receive the haircut – the shelves are filled with old bottles that once held hair tonics. There are shelves of hair curlers, bobby pins, men’s razors, perfume bottles, antique curling irons, shavers, razors, but the creepiest of all is a sink filled with balls of hair. This is utterly macabe and weird but in an odd way totally fascinating to me. I am alone in this museum and am a little freaked out that a mannequin might come to life and speak to me – they are everywhere, even posing in the windows. Nothing is behind a lock, it is all out in the open –
I doubt the owner knows how much stuff is in there or would know if someone
took something. I did take many photos – how could you not?
I sat outside with tow French fathers with their little girls – Daniels assistant came out with items to keep them amused. Okay this is going to sound ultra tacky on the tacky scale – but remember the rubber “Big Mouth Bass” that was on a plastic plaque that when you pressed the red button sang “Take me to the River”? (On sale at Walgreens for $9.99) We’ve all seen them and thought – funny, but who would buy them – the answer is Daniel – he had the Bass and two different ones that were lobsters and they sang. The little girls had a merry time pressing all of the buttons at once – I smiled a devilish grim thinking I would have done the same thing when I was little. So I say with the sun on my face, a cool wind across my forehead and listened to little lobsters and a big mouth bass sing for a while. Davis was summonsed into the barber chair – the cost would be $20 euro. A mighty price for this place, but I guess you do pay for the museum and the ambiance.
David’s hair was cut with scissors only, no modern buzzers, and a swift downward stroke from the straight edge insured that the back of his hair and his sideburns were not only even in length but scored precisely. After paying I insisted on a photo of Daniel with his latest creation – he seized the photo opportunity by grabbing two has from his hat rack – whilst outside he put one on my head and one on David’s too – smile say fromague!