This line of work sometimes has its perks. Example, this little ditty offered me the chance for a free hair cut and sparkly shoe shine. Saaaweet!, except for the matter of me being mostly bald and wearing flip flops the majority of the time. Let’s just say this anecdotist hasn’t been bought. But, I digress.

Bird’s Barbershop was created surprisingly not from the minds of Minolta, but from 2 guys just lookin’ to get their hair did on the cheap.  3 years-ish ago, the first of a now trio of Bird’s blasted open their front doors with Rock n’ Roll and cheap chops. It’s a place where Lone Star beer flows like barley wine and the foosball tables rattle with conjecture as to who is a winner.  Parking lot concerts are the norm and wi-fi is readily available to Tweet away to your subscriber’s list delight. Yea, all is welcome with open shears.

I find the taxicab motif is quite chic and very chill compared to the abundance of swanky snob snip-shops which seem to have been proliferating this town (Austin) as of late.
I am welcomed with a lovely 2009’ vintage Lone Star a la gratis’and there is a live DJ spinning an intriguing mashup of what seems to be TV on the Radio -vs- Kriss Kross supported by the subtle undertones of a Joust video game(gratis’ tambien) bleep-blurping away against the wall.  I introduce myself to stylist Mark D. to my right buzzing away with his shears atop the dome of my first customer encounter.

“Steve”, we shall call him, do to some probationary inconveniences, has just literally stumbled in from the bar adjacent to this joint to get have his hair situation handled. When I inquire as to why this spot for a clipping, “Well, I’ve had a couple beers and figured why the hell not.”  Always a good time to make pertinent style decisions in my book, Steve.

Well, I don’t know about you, but I’ll call that 2 thumbs up and a good enough for me.
I think I’ll just sit here and see how many beers it takes before the gratis’ wears off….

Words and photos by Dustin Downing