When it's time to get my hair and beard cut there's only one place I go. It's always Bergen Barberstue! Roughly translated from Norwegian I think "barberstue" would mean barber lounge in English. Out of the many barbershops to open up in Bergen in the last decade these are one of the longest serving ones. They're actually so popular that they had to open a second shop. This place is always fully booked.
I'm long overdue a haircut. I've had to postpone it for a while due to the lockdown and being ill. I was afraid I had to wait for a while but luckily one of my regular barbers had an opening so I took it. My beard has been growing out of control and I can barely fit a mask over it. It was starting to get quite impractical.
Some pictures before the procedure
A place for men
Even though I'm all about equality I think it's important for us men to have a place of our own. The barber shop is that place for me. It's all about style, fashion and products for men. You get your coffee black and tea is out of the question. You want some sugar in your coffee? No chance! It's quite the cliche but I guess that's just part of the concept. It's quite silly but it works.
Some people might walk into this place and expect to find posters of women hanging on the walls. Far from it. While there's the occasional pinup girl from the 50's era the rest is all men. Cars, cigars, whisky, mens fashion, inspiration for hair styles. They've really decorated this place in a way that I like.
What I really like is that walking into this place is like entering a time machine. It's really old-timey. It looks old with intent. There's all the classic stuff you would expect to find at a barbershop in the 50s. They even have a wall of history depicting the locale going back decades. It's quite cool seeing that one of their locales has been a barber shop for as long as back to the 40s. For almost 80 years this locale has been a barber shop and that's pretty cool.
A great atmosphere
This place just has a great atmosphere. They're always playing some old and classic rock. I've discovered a lot of great music while sitting in those chairs. Their Spotify Playlist really hits home. Almost at 1000 songs strong and I've yet to hear a tune I didn't like. I'm always excited to find out what new tunes they've added. Bangers both old and new.
The end of a relationship
I've been cycling between the same two barbers for years now. If one isn't free or working I'll go to the other one. If they're not working I'll postpone. They're not better than the other barbers but they're my barbers. I can go to them and I'll always know what to expect. We'll discuss our music and catch up on all that's happened since last time. I really enjoy that personal touch of having regular barbers.
Sadly neither of them are working there anymore. One has gone to work off-shore and while he's cutting hair whenever he's on land it's not easy to get an appointment. My other barber had his last day today. It was quite random that I had booked him for his last day but also kinda cool. We even gave each other a not so Covid friendly handshake afterwards but it was well in its place. Pushing five years as a regular customer with this man. It's been an honor.
It's a shame but it'll also be fun to see what the future holds. I and the other barbers already know each others by name so transitioning to a new barber shouldn't be a big deal. That's just how life is sometimes. Sometimes it's fun to start from scratch to.
The final product
As always I'm very happy about how it turned out. I decided to go for a much shorter beard this time. That'll work out better with the mask. I gotta go with the times seeing as it's mandatory to wear a mask on public transport and most public places in general. The hair was getting a little bit to long for comfort. It was getting hard to shape and heavy enough to fall out of shape on its own.
These guys just can't go wrong!
A week off
The winter holiday is upon us in Norway. For most people this doesn't mean much but for students and teachers it means a week off! Time to sit back and relax. The weather is crazy at the moment but I'm hoping it'll settle down so I can go for a couple of hikes over the week. If not there's plenty of video games to go around.
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