Hooters for Haircuts

The other night, a male acquaintance told me about a visit to a local hair salon called Tight Cuts. He said the stylist gave him a massage and asked about his plans for the evening, and when he told her he had none, she tried to set him up on a date with one of the other stylists.

He asked my brother and husband, who were also privy to this conversation, if they had ever been to Tight Cuts.

"No, but I'm going now," was my brother's reply.

"Becky gets mad at me if I even look at the building when we drive by," was my husband's reply.

He didn't ask me if I had ever been, for obvious reasons.

Let’s take a moment to discuss Tight Cuts, or as I wittily call it “Hooters for Haircuts.” Tight Cuts is a noble and dignified business establishment that daily graces Boise with its presence. Tight Cuts is a hair salon that goes way above and beyond the call of a, ahem, haircut.

The Tight Cuts radio commercial advertises female employees dressed in black leather and tight white shirts, hence the name "Tight Cuts." It promises female hair stylists who ooze sex appeal and perform slow massages on the neck and scalp. The commercial clenches the deal by telling men that Tight Cuts will “treat you like a star.” We all know that the way to a man’s heart is through his ego.

According to its website, Tight Cuts is a hair salon that promises to transform a man’s haircut from a “boring chore to wanting more.”

And the men who frequent the joint are obviously there for the deep conversation and the – uh – outstanding customer service. One man quoted on the website describes his stylist in this manner, “the lady is smokin’, and who can complain about a hottie like her giving you a massage?”

As if men weren’t inundated with enough unrealistic images of gorgeous, subservient women who cater to every whim of the male desire, here is yet another industry that has tapped into the lucrative business of exploiting the female form.

I don’t expect that the Hooters or Tokyo Massages or Gentlemen’s Clubs or Tight Cuts of the world will ever disappear. It's just too bad that our society makes it more profitable for a woman to be employed on the basis of her physical appearance as opposed to her - well - any other other attribute that requires a brain.