Hairy Situation in Israel

There is one thing here in Israel that is quite difficult for me to swallow.  No, it is not the current wave of terrorism!  It is the simple act of getting a haircut!

As Debbie Schlussel has long observed, America's males are being feminized.  I would not necessarily rate myself as a 10 on the Macho Scale, but there are certain women/girl things that make me most uncomfortable, like walking by the cosmetics in the drug store or department store.  You know, the real personal, female-gender-specific stuff.

And, unlike Debbie's speculations regarding Tom Brady and Giselle Bundchen, in the 3 decades of our relationship my wife has never even asked me to go out and buy her personal feminine paraphernalia for her.  She knows what the answer would be, and that is fine with her.  [I don't ask her to do my marketing for me for my personal male-gender stuff either.].

So it came as a culture shock for me to find that just about all haircut establishments here cater to either gender.  For my first haircut here, I found a shop where at least the women go to a closed-off stall, but even that was not the unabashedly male barbershop I had been using on Long Island for 20+ years (not that the Long Island place didn't service women customers, but they did so in an unqualifiedly male atmosphere, even the two female barbers there).  A simple haircut and some red-hot conversation!

Fortunately, I now have found a third barber shop in my town that doesn't also promote itself as an establishment for doing nails and womens' wigs and all of those perfumery preparations, such as the place my wife patronizes.

And it is no coincidence that all three of these places are owned and operated by emigres from the Former Soviet Union.  The Russians appreciate a real man, unfeminized by the politically-correct fashionista culture.  And so does my wife!