On Thursday, September 29th, I went to Salon Ktizo, the salon in the Busch Student Center. I was in need of a haircut before my parents came for the family weekend. My bangs were down to my nose, and the hair on the side of my head easily covered my ears. I wasn’t planning on anything major-just a little trim, maybe an inch cut off at most, because I had grown attached to my hair, just as my hair had grown attached to my head.The truth is, one is identified by their haircut. I know that I sometimes even stereotype people according to their haircuts. People assume that you chose your hairstyle, so it’s an expression of who you are. This is why a good haircut is important to me. I’m not picky either-as long as my hair doesn’t resemble any former style that’s ridiculed now, then it’s fine with me. And so I walked into Salon Ktizo, and the first thing I noticed was a guy that looked quite displeased. As he left the salon, he told the lady at the desk that he didn’t owe any money, because he was getting the mistakes from his previous haircut there fixed. I heard the guy say that, and the siren went off in my head; but I just stood there and waited for my demise. Little did I know that within the hour, it would look like a blindfolded drunk cut my hair.I made it clear that I wanted an inch cut, at most. Fifty minutes later, my hair was at least two inches shorter. My bangs and the hair above my ears were cut in a straight line all around my head, while the hair in the back was left just as long as it was when I came in. The lady had given me some sort of crossbreed of a mullet and a bowl cut. I had never felt so ugly in my life. What’s more, the haircut cost me 20 bucks.After receiving the haircut at Salon Ktizo, I put a hat on my head in embarrassment and looked for another place to get the rat’s nest on my head fixed. I came across Larry Cathey, the stylist from The Going Thing in the Marchetti Towers. His store was closed when I got there, but I had arrived just a hair before he pulled out in his car. He personally came up to let me know that he would be open tomorrow. I told him what had happened, he saw the mullet coming out of the back of my hat and he opened up his salon just to help me out. From the start, I noticed how much better Larry was at cutting hair than the woman at Salon Ktizo. Larry was like a cartoon he was moving so fast, he had more dexterity with his scissors than most of us have with our hands. Affectionately known as Crazy Larry by his Saint Louis University customers, he told me of all the horror stories from students going to Salon Ktizo. He knew I was a freshman because apparently the upperclassmen know what’s going on and they don’t go to Salon Ktizo. Crazy Larry completely renovated my hair, resurrecting it from a heap of garbage to a stylish cut that I was proud of.A person who cuts hair for a living should know something about style, and style is not a mushroom-cut/mullet-hybrid. Who pinpoints the two ugliest styles ever created and forges them into one unbelievably hideous haircut? If you need a haircut, do yourself a huge favor and learn from my mistake-stay away from Salon Ktizo.Nick Otto is a freshman in the College of Arts and [email protected]