San Francisco's Aura of Bouginess

Hypermasculinity in the Mission

Yesterday, the beloved San Francisco Chronicle published an important look at the burgeoning “hypermasculine” haircut industry in the Bay Area (loosely defined as “establishments [that are] full of pre-1930s barber chairs, hand-powered barbering tools, folksy wooden touches, straight-razor shave kits, whiskey and, of course, the signature red, white and blue barber poles.”)  Behind the trend are tech-savvy folks who find their barbers on Yelp (the benchmark of tech savviness), don't want to “sit next to ladies with foil in their hair,” and yearn for a time when “men used to take more pride in themselves.”  They really want to look good!

However, it's not all about harking back to a time 'when men were men and women were in the kitchen' and there was a military draft, it's about being real. The self-described “founder” of Valencia Street's F.S.C. Barber (and curator of stunning lines) Sam Buffa explains in what could be the best line ever published in the Chronicle's 147-year history:

“This is about moving past the scraggly, long-haired hippie to something rugged and masculine and real,” says Buffa, who's interrupted by a friend bringing a quiche from Tartine.

You see, “San Francisco is ready for [real haircuts] in a way it wasn't before,” Buffa mansplains. “This city is not the people who used to be here.”

Namely, broke pussies.

[SFGate | via MrEricSir]