Salt Lake Men’s Haircut: What Are Your Expectations?

I have been asking a lot of men lately what their expectations are for a Salt Lake men’s haircut. I have not been asking my regular clients,  but have been asking this question away from our Salt Lake City barber shop. I have wanted to see if I could understand better what a typical man is looking for in a Salt Lake men’s haircut.

To my surprise, I have found that Salt Lake City men fall into one of two groups. Either they are very concerned about what type of barber shop and haircut experience they received, or they told me they were not that interested in getting a great haircut. They just wanted some type of haircut to get them through the month.

Specific reasons varied but this last group said getting a Salt Lake men’s haircut just wasn’t a big deal to them so they just went to whatever place they could get a quick and inexpensive cut. They said service and ‘extras’ were not an issue to them.

The dictionary defines “expectations” as follows:

1. the act or the state of expecting: to wait in expectation.
2. the act or state of looking forward or anticipating. 
3. an expectant mental attitude: a high pitch of expectation. 
4. something expected; a thing looked forward to.  
5. Often, expectations. a prospect of future good or profit:  to have great expectations.  
6. the degree of probability that something will occur.

The attitude of the last group regarding Salt Lake men’s haircuts shows a very low expectation of an important output or result.  It just is not important to them.  I don’t think I am a vain person.  But I always wanted to look my best.  The attitude of the last group that they just didn’t care about getting a great Salt Lake men’s haircut experience and just wanting the least expensive quick service—was very interesting to me.

I wrote an article several years ago about men who get home haircuts.  There are a lot of similarities in these two groups of men.  I thought there might be a middle ground where men always wanted the best Salt Lake men’s haircut they could get, but they were not overly concerned about it.

Actually, I thought this might be the largest group.  But after months of asking these questions to a lot of men, I found out that when it came to a Salt Lake men’s haircut, virtually everyone was found at the two extremes.  Either it was a really big deal or it didn’t seem to matter at all.

One of my early expectations from my survey was that $cost might be an issue.  I found that with a Salt Lake men’s haircut it was more an issue of which group they were in.  The actual cost of a service itself did not place them in either group.  It was more their attitude about their expectations for a Salt Lake men’s haircut.

The group who just didn’t care about their haircut experience usually went to the least expensive places.  But $cost wasn’t their main reason.  They just were not that concerned with their haircuts so where they went was not necessarily based upon cost.  They just were indifferent when it came to getting a Salt Lake men’s haircut.

In the prior article about home haircuts there are examples of men who had to change and start caring about their appearance for business or social reasons.  I would think every man would just want to look his best all the time, not just when external factors made it necessary.

I read an interesting article recently about a man’s appearance in general.  The author had a student who sent him an email asking why he should dress up and try to look nice when his classmates in college were dressed like bums.   Here are some of his answers to the young student,

“Dressing sharp, it doesn’t matter how old you are. It doesn’t really matter what situation you’re in. I think taking pride in your appearance is important, whether you are a blue-collar worker, you’re a white-collar worker, you’re a student, you’re a 75-year-old retiree. In any case, I want to make a split-second decision about you, whenever I first meet you, before we talk.  Because if you think about it, most people we see on a daily basis, we don’t talk to. We pass by them but we still make judgments about them.  most of the time, we look at somebody, we make snap decisions. 

So why handicap yourself? Why put yourself in a position of having to work your way up? Why not start at the top, dress sharp and then you know, people, you know, “Oh, you’re a student but you dress like a professional. I would have thought you worked here in the Marketing Department. You looked just so sharp.  So my article was broken up into two parts – how dressing sharp affects you and how dressing sharp affects others.”

This author was talking about appearance in the sense of dressing well.  But it also applies to men’s grooming in the form of a sharp looking men’s  haircut, shaving,  and other facial hair being neat and clean.  People do judge us every where we go.  Why not resolve to look your best at all times.

A Salt Lake men’s haircut experience can do a lot for a persons self-esteem.  I have had many men come into the shop on a down note.  Things hadn’t been going well and they just didn’t seem very happy.

After a half-hour of being pampered with a great haircut, hot-lather shave around the neck and ears, a great after shave and ending with a neck and shoulder massage—they would leave the shop in a completely different mood.  They looked sharp and they felt sharp.

I would love to see more men have higher expectations from a Salt Lake men’s haircut and grooming experience for their personal benefit.  It is not just how looking your best affects others opinions of you, it also affects how you feel about yourself.  The better you look and feel could have a positive influence upon your personal success and happiness.  Why not reach for your best possible results!