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]