Combing Cape Town for the unkindest cut of all
After a month at sea, I was haggard and hairy - a lone and grubby pirate let loose among the beautiful people of Cape Town.
Shooting was scheduled for the next day, and I wanted to look the part - to be the clean-cut host on my very own one-hour travel show, set to air worldwide on the National Geographic Channel.
Behind the bizarre window display of Styrofoam heads and baseball caps, I saw antique bottles filled with happy-colored tonics, blinking in the afternoon sunlight like a neon sign that shouted, We are authentic!
Tripping the heavy bell on the door, I entered the empty shop and found a mosaic of framed newspaper articles.
Every headline praised the barber, the mayor was shaking his hand, and the city had thanked him with a steady flow of certificates noting his long-standing service.
The man wielded his scissors like chopsticks, squeaking steel blades in the air before dabbling at the edge of my curls.
With every slice of his guillotine, heavy, uneven chunks of my hair dropped to the ground.
Yet all these framed accolades on the wall, the certificates, and his opening line about having worked here for 50 years - this little spot on Long Street was the place where he was valued most.
[...] these are the places we keep going back to - wherever our life holds meaning: at sea, on TV, or in an old-time barbershop at the bottom of Africa.