The Mirror Man.

I wish haircuts were charged on the amount of hair you had. Mine would be getting much cheaper each year.

While at the barber the other day I witnessed one of the most narcissistic people I have ever seen!

A young man, in his early twenties I would guess, who could have possibly laid claim to the longest hair cut in history! He stopped the barber after each snip to see how he looked, Then he informed the poor guy with the scissors where and how much he would like the next snip to be. I would have lost it with this halfwit after ten minutes and cut the lot off! After he had his hair cut to his satisfaction, he spent the next ten minutes brushing his hair and looking at it from all angles in the mirror! I don't claim to be an expert on the attractiveness of men, but I don't think that Brad Pitt would be worried about this guy's animal magnetism. I think he would be better to worry about his beer belly than his silly hair cut!

I thought that this was an isolated incident, but the barber informed me that this is a regular occurrence in his shop, where young men obsess over their hair. Surely they can't be that insecure? Which is the real reason behind this show of vanity. I'm of an age where I figure you can't make me look any better, so it's more a damage limitation exercise for me now! I may have been concerned about my looks when I was younger, but I can't remember if I was. I do have a strange arrogant streak which I'm not aware of. This is pointed out to me by others, and is also backed up by film and photos, where I seem to be sneering at people. I genuinely am not aware of this, as I think that I'm being friendly, but when I'm shown the film back, it looks like I'm about to punch someone!

My wife also told me of a woman she knows who actually tells people when they meet her that she is good looking (she's not). This woman is in her early fifties and dresses like she thinks a teenager would dress. I'm afraid she's a bit out of touch with the youth of today, as she looks more 'lady of the night' than 'girl of today'. But she does brag about how many young men she has had sex with. It's quite sad really. I have met this woman, so I'm told, but I don't remember her. My wife told me that I called her a silly cow because of her behaviour when I met her. Of course I would have received a severe reprimand for such language from my wife, even though she agreed with me.

I have been lucky in my life to meet some very beautiful women, my wife being one of them (I have to say that, by law). But these women were not beautiful in the cosmopolitan type of way, they were beautiful because of who they are or were. I really do believe that your personality can alter the way you look. I have met people who are conventionally beautiful, whatever that is. But when you sit and talk to them they seem to change and become very unattractive. This I suppose is like the film, 'Shallow Hal'. Other women may just look like ordinary people but when you spend time with them they light up the room. They seem to have the ability to radiate warmth and contentment. They are not aware of their great beauty, or of the effect that they have on people, and this is what makes them so attractive.

Could you imagine a night out with my 'mirror man'? He would spend the evening preening and posing in the mirror. There would be no conversation unless it was about him, no warmth. Can you imagine how he regards others? I have written before about how I think that people today are losing the ability to have empathy for others. This, I truly believe, is because of social media. People no longer seem to communicate on a personal level, face to face. This is also killing of the art of conversation, the witty reply. It is breeding a generation of people who hide their feelings in public only to turn into trolls in their own private space!

By the way, my comment above about having to say that my wife is beautiful is not true. She is a very beautiful woman, in both the conventional sense and in the way that I described. I have yet to meet anyone who has a bad word to say about her. She is all the things that I am not, gentle, beautiful and tolerant. But my cynical head says she refuses to see people for what they are! She says that I refuse to see people for who they are, and why they behave the way they do. I don't care about who, what, they are, though: I just want them to keep well away from me!