I’m going to open with this: Before going to The Salon and meeting Paul, I generally didn’t enjoy getting my hair cut. Read on to find out how this experience irrevocably changed all that. I’ll set the scene. I’m a dude in my 30s with long, wavy hair, that I generally don’t love. I find getting a haircut generally a bit awkward because my hair is big and daft so people usually don’t know what to do with it, and then I have to make the same awkward smalltalk for the duration. I don’t know if there’s a module on tedious smalltalk at hairdressing school, but it always feels painfully shallow. ANYWAY, let me talk about how Paul and The Salon changed my life. THE ENVIRONMENT: I wandered in to the diminutive studio, and was greeted by Paul and Kate. It’s a cosy place, so you’re immediately drawn into the conversation with whoever’s in there. Over the course of the ~90 minutes I was there, we chatted about _all kinds of stuff_. No perfunctory smalltalk, no awkwardness - these folks are a genuine delight to chat to. It was two months ago now so I forget the details, but suffice to say I felt relaxed, comfortable, even _engaged_ the whole time I was there. THE DOO: I picked these folks because I’d seen another google review from somebody who sounded as though they had similar hair to me, and they sounded overjoyed with the results. After 30+ years of my approach yielding mixed-to-poor results, I still stuck to my guns - I told Paul I wanted to cut a bunch of it off, but I didn’t really know what style would work for me, and asked for his recommendation. Affixed with a pensive look, Paul lifted, probed and tested my hair. A minute or two passed before he spoke. His suggestion sounded ideal, and he set to work. At first, I was frankly nervous as swathes of my questionable-but-at-least-familiar locks fell to the floor. But once it started to take form, I quickly started to relax. And relaxation grew into excitement. Paul was crafting something exquisitely suited to both my hair type, and to my unconventional-but-still-obviously-very-handsome-you-understand face. THE IMPACT: I’ll do this as a terse bullet list because if you’ve read this far you’re already bored. - I received probably of the order of 30 compliments in the first week from colleagues, but also folks I’ve bumped into around the office that I’d barely spoken to before - At least two people’s immediate reactions were to stare, open mouthed, as my newfound doo-inspired confidence propelled me with a strut into the room - Men and women alike now swoon at the scantest of glances from me, so much so that I dare not post pictures of the result here for fear of the potential ramifications