{"id":33977,"date":"2021-05-06T05:00:29","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T10:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=33977"},"modified":"2021-06-11T13:59:13","modified_gmt":"2021-06-11T18:59:13","slug":"stateimpact-gets-a-haircut-oklahoma-city-barber-talks-about-covid-effects-while-trimming-ungroomed-reporters-hair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2021\/05\/06\/stateimpact-gets-a-haircut-oklahoma-city-barber-talks-about-covid-effects-while-trimming-ungroomed-reporters-hair\/","title":{"rendered":"StateImpact gets a haircut: Oklahoma City barber talks about covid effects while trimming ungroomed reporter\u2019s hair"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_33978\"  class=\"wp-caption module image aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 672px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-33978\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/05\/imagejpeg_0-1-672x504.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"672\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/05\/imagejpeg_0-1-672x504.jpg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/05\/imagejpeg_0-1-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/05\/imagejpeg_0-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/05\/imagejpeg_0-1-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/05\/imagejpeg_0-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/05\/imagejpeg_0-1-620x465.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/05\/imagejpeg_0-1-1440x1080.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/05\/imagejpeg_0-1.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barber Chuck Naifeh gestures right before cutting StateImpact Oklahoma reporter Robby Korth&#8217;s hair.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 170px; margin-bottom: 20px; border-radius: 10px; overflow:hidden;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 170px;\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https:\/\/player.captivate.fm\/episode\/03bdef09-c0af-4492-b7e2-5390a7ee50a7\"><\/iframe><\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It had been well over a year since I\u2019d gotten a trim. And it showed.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My hair was the longest it had ever been in my life. Normally, when it goes over my ears that\u2019s the sign I use to visit a barber. But because of COVID-19 and health professionals urging me to stay home as much as possible, I didn\u2019t get it cut. It grew, grew, grew in the interim.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By April 2021, it was down to my shoulders. But getting vaccinated meant it was time for a cut.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So at the recommendation of a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kosu.org\/health\/2020-12-15\/how-covid-19-is-making-the-holiday-season-not-so-jolly-for-santa-clauses\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cordell Santa Claus<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> who relies on having a good barber, I went to visit Chuck Naifeh at Carwin\u2019s Shave Shop in Nichols Hills.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Naifeh said I\u2019m hardly the only person to avoid getting a haircut. I knew this. I have plenty of family members &#8211; including <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/omaha.com\/news\/local\/long-locks-are-gone-but-omaha-priest-hopes-to-share-hopeful-message-with-haircut\/article_bfafbc24-43ca-11eb-9145-773f7a1fc0ce.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a distant cousin who is a Catholic priest<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; who have forgone a buzz because of the risks of the coronavirus.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But business is finally picking up again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Naifeh said precautions will continue while he\u2019s giving haircuts. During our cut, he wore two masks and a face shield and I kept my mask on. Additionally, sanitization, which was always a priority, has been kicked into overdrive during the pandemic, Naifeh said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After every haircut, he sprays down his whole barbering room with viricide.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Naifeh is the consummate professional. I know I want to get my hair chopped off, but I asked him for styling advice.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf you weren&#8217;t going to leave it long, I think we should go back and bring you back, bring you back to your old self,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean I guess that&#8217;s part of getting back to the new normal. We can start to start to get back to what we used to look like at least.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The new normal is ill-defined for Naifeh.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From the moment he was forced to close down, he\u2019s had to weigh client safety with his personal well-being. And even though it felt risky in the beginning, he knew he had to open up the shop.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe were in a financial bind that we had to continue offering services, even if we felt they were unsafe for me as a barber, even though I was sure that I was keeping everything as safe as possible for the client,\u201d Naifeh said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that he\u2019s in the swing of things, it feels much safer, Naifeh said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But there\u2019s been a great personal cost to his family because of the pandemic. His father &#8211; <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/obits.oklahoman.com\/obituaries\/oklahoman\/obituary.aspx?n=robert-naifeh&pid=195838754\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">attorney Bob Naifeh<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; died at the age of 62 in March 2020.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bob Naifeh was one of the very first patients in the state, and the first COVID-19 case admitted to Mercy Hospital in North Oklahoma City.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His father went on a ventilator for 15 days and never woke up. It was heartbreaking for the Naifeh family.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And what he\u2019s seen since from other Oklahomans has been maddening.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt&#8217;s been frustrating to know that, you know, not much could have been done to help my dad,\u201d Naifeh said. \u201c[He] got the best care that was available at the time, but that he died in a way that so many others didn&#8217;t have to go through. And I think that the most frustrating part of this year is that all of the fighting of the clear solutions to this problem.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Naifeh isn\u2019t totally sure how to move forward.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He feels safe at work, but participating in other parts of life are still intimidating, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_33981\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignright\" style=\"max-width: 505px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-33981\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/05\/EzCvXaXXMAgthH4-505x672.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"505\" height=\"672\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/05\/EzCvXaXXMAgthH4-505x672.jpg 505w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/05\/EzCvXaXXMAgthH4-1442x1920.jpg 1442w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/05\/EzCvXaXXMAgthH4-768x1022.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/05\/EzCvXaXXMAgthH4-113x150.jpg 113w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/05\/EzCvXaXXMAgthH4-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/05\/EzCvXaXXMAgthH4-620x825.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/05\/EzCvXaXXMAgthH4-811x1080.jpg 811w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 505px) 100vw, 505px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">StateImpact Robby Korth after a haircut at Carwin&#8217;s Shave Shop in Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n<\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI&#8217;m not ready,\u201d he said. \u201cI now have both vaccines. And I think that COVID has been kind of just a part of this veil being lifted on what our neighbors and family and friends\u00a0 have reacted to this has really shown us a side of our culture that has been frustrating.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A conversation with Naifeh felt like a chat with an old friend. Barbers are supposed to shy away from tough issues, he said. It was one of the first things he learned in barber school.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But I was grateful for an opportunity to talk about present day issues and listen to his thoughts on them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Plus I was happy with the haircut. I looked a lot like I did pre-pandemic. Maybe even better?\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It got the stamp of approval from my wife.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It had been well over a year since I\u2019d gotten a trim. And it showed.My hair was the longest it had ever been in my life. Normally, when it goes over my ears that\u2019s the sign I use to visit a barber. But because of COVID-19 and health professionals urging me to stay home as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":33980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,301],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33977"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33977"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34077,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33977\/revisions\/34077"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}