Haircuts at Mulong's

When the Clairvoyant came home last weekend, she took advantage of her open schedule to book an appointment for hair treatment. Haircuts and other procedures are quite expensive abroad and since she comes home quite often, she makes it a point to have her hair done at her suki at salon in a nearby mall. I think she must have been going this salon for a couple of years now and this after finding a good stylist and manicurist/pedicurist at that salon. She is quite picky when it comes to her hair and nails, and I understand this based on her having not so pleasant experiences with other stylists in the past. Of course, she also found good ones before but most of them eventually leave her old salons and either she couldn't trace them or the salons where they transferred to were not convenient to go to (e.g., out of the way, too far, etc.).

In my case, I have entrusted my hair to only one barber in the past 22 years, not counting the time I was in Japan from 1996 to 1999, when I found my barbershop of choice in the Meguro District of Tokyo. Not counted also are years when 2 or 3 barbers were giving me haircuts, particularly since in the years preceding my meeting my suking barbero I had no choice or was not the one who made decisions on who will cut my hair. Those years, it was my father who took me to the barbershop and who made the decisions (usually good ones) on who would cut my hair.

I remember I met Alim back in 1984 or 1985 at a makeshift barbershop at the Cainta Public Market. The barbershop, Mulong's, was named after its owner/proprietor Romulo Santos, who I remember was a fixture of sorts at the munisipyo, being identified with the Felixes who were the political clan to beat in Cainta until a TV news personality decided to run for mayor. Mulong's then was somewhat seedy, having wallpapers made up of a collage of magazine covers and centerfolds showing scantily-clad or nude starlets. Back in the 1980's, those starlets included the softdrink beauties, the Seiko talents, and those who acted in films produced by the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines (ECP). In fairness, some of those starlets were good actresses and we know them even today as the likes of Jaclyn Jose and Anna Marie Gutierrez. Wallpapers like that were supposed to attract the men, and that was how Mulong's barbershop was in those days - a rite of passage of sorts for teen-aged males who obviously enjoyed being taken by their fathers for haircuts and practically sanctioned our feasting our eyes on what may be considered as soft-porn.

Alim was always the silent one among the other barbers and was always made fun off by the others for his not engaging in chatter, the kwentong barbero that people seem to expect when having one's haircut. He would just smile and shrug off the jokes. He would always mind his own business and talk only to ask the customer what kind of haircut and/or how short the latter wanted it. He was one to always follow instructions and that was how I came to be his suki. During my ROTC years when I was a freshman and sophomore at the university. The rule then was for maxtol (maximum tolerance) haircuts; the equivalent of 1/2" (side) by 1" (back) cuts. I found the barbers at the university to be somewhat hardheaded and gave us 1 by 2 or 2 by 3 haircuts. Meanwhile, the other barbers at Mulong's (2 others aside from Alim) couldn't seem to find the consistency for giving me a maxtol haircut as I described to them. Only Alim knew what I wanted every time I sat on the chair every other week to maintain my maxtol (Note: ROTC was 16 Saturdays per semester over my first 2 years of university.). That was when I probably realized who was to cut my hair from then on.

Flash forward to more recent times and the old barbershop was eventually demolished along with other shops, stores and eateries to give way to the expansion of the market. The barbershop relocated to a formal stall where it is now located and I continued to go there for my regular haircuts. In fact, it was Alim who cut my hair when I needed a good cut for my yearbook photos, university graduations and yes, even my wedding. I would always just come to the barbershop, now named Romulo G. Santos Barbershop, and he would always know what to do when I sit down on the chair.

It's not only me who has been a suki of Alim for quite some time now as I also see former neighbors and other familiar faces who go to him for a haircut. Then, of course, there is also Tatay and my brother who also have their hair cut by Alim. We usually have small talk about anything under the sun and he still is the silent type who focuses on the task at hand once you're comfortable on the chair and have already given instructions for the haircut. And oh, did I mention the price of a cut is only 60 pesos?