My Haircut

Greetings everyone.

I've decided to tell the story of my haircut. It needs some context though, so I'll start with that.

I've had longish hair for awhile now. I like it...it is a bit curly and doesn't require a whole lot of effort. I got it trimmed sometime in the summer, but it was just a trim, so I still had a lot of hair.

Once I got to China, it started to grow really fast (or maybe it just seemed that way) and was becoming difficult to work with. I needed to tame it, but I was scared of making a foray into a Chinese hair salon, since I can't effectively communicate about how I like it to look.

There are hair salons everywhere. In Canada, you can tell a barber shop because of its spinning striped barber pole thing...you know what I'm talking about! Well here in China, they have the same sort of thing, except much bigger. Their salon poles are as tall as the doors, and they're quite bright. There are sometimes two or three on each side of the door, spinning their different designs. So, it's easy to find a salon here. They are on the main streets, in high-rise buildings, and in the alleys. They're everywhere! I guess with more than 1 billion Chinese, a lot of haircuts are needed.

So, two weeks ago my hair was getting out of control, and looked pretty bad. Carol and I were going to meet some friends at an Irish Pub where one of their friends was doing the live music. All these people are from another school in Guangzhou, and they're teachers too. All are quality people. Anyway, Carol and I showed up to meet them at the pub.

We got there a bit later than everyone else, and by that time it was super busy. It was pretty much all foreigners there, and very few Chinese. The band was playing, and everyone was into it. Our friends had two small tables, and there were something like 10 or 12 people crowded around them. I decided I wasn't into cramming into the pub, trying to find a spot at the table to put my drink, and having yelling conversations. So, I headed to the washroom to buy some space and solace from the pub's hubbub. On the way there, I passed the front door. Instead of turning left toward the Men's Toilet sign, I hung a right towards the door, stepped outside, and began walking away from the pub. I guess I should have told everyone where I was going, but I didn't. I sort of just disappeared.

I crossed the street, and found a used bookstore that had a whole English aisle, so I checked it out until they closed at 10. It was pretty good, but the English books are super expensive here, even if they're used. No matter the price, I happily cruised the bookstore while my friends were across the street in the pub. Good times!

The bookstore closed at 10pm, and I had to leave. I debated going back to the pub, but just wasn't into that idea just yet. So, I exlored the 'hood. I found a small street, less than two cars wide. It was amazing...there were probably 10 hair salons on each side of the street, all in one or two blocks! I figured it was a good find...I must have found Guangzhou's hair-cutting district or something.

I walked down the small alley/street, checking out the sights. Pretty much all there was to see was hair salon after hair salon though. I was pretty impressed...it was after 10pm, and they were all still open! There were stylists inside playing cards and other games, generally having a good time. They were still wearing their uniforms and everything. I figured they were still open because again, there are more than 1 billion Chinese, and they all need haircuts! So why not keep your hair salon open until midnight to keep up with the demand?

Some nice girls in one particular salon said "Hello! Welcome!" so I felt welcome and decided I wasn't ready to hit the pub yet, so why not get a haircut? I was needing one anyway, and I was feeling adventurous. The salon was more of a small barber shop. There were three sinks, and one hair washing station. It was small and homey.

My hosts were really friendly, and they were happy to be cutting my hair. They gave me fresh oranges with the leaves still on, and when I finished one, they gave me another! To make sure I didn't get a third orange, I kept a few segments uneaten.

An old man washed my hair, which was a pretty interesting process. He didn't wet my hair, add shampoo, and work it into a lather. Rather, he dumped a handful of shampoo into my dry hair, and worked that into a lather. Because my hair wasn't wet to begin with, he had to use a tonne of shampoo to get the required bubbles. Plus my hair is long anyway. Once he was done, he went in for seconds! Again, he dumped a load of shampoo on my head, and worked it into hair again. Finally he was done, brought me to the sink and rinsed my hair. Now it was time I got down to the real haircut.

A girl started cutting my hair, and I tried to explain how much I wanted taken off...not too much! I justed wanted it tamed a bit so I can get it under control! She nodded, grinned, and continued to cut away. She took quite a long time, and I figured she was cutting individual hairs. They thought it was cute how much Chinese I didn't know, and they kept smiling and laughing. It was fun for awhile, but when the haircut began coming up on a full hour, I was ready to leave.

Finally, she was done cutting my hair. We discussed prices, and settled on 30Yuan, the price on the door. I was happy with that price, and was wondering why we were discussing it. It's a good price, about 4 and a half dollars. Just when I thought I was about to get out of the chair, a third girl came and started massaging my head and my neck, and my shoulders. She kept asking if I wanted a massage, and I said no. She began to massage me anyway. It was nice, but now I was pushing 75 minutes in the chair and was ancy to leave. She massaged my arms too, and my hands and my fingers. She kept asking if I wanted more of a massage, and I said no, I just wanted the haircut.

Finally, they let me out of the chair. I gave them a 100Yuan bill, and got ready for my change. Instead of ringing me in, they took my bill and started motioning me to the dark back corner of the small salon, where a door led elsewhere. Hmmm. They said "Massage! Massage!" At that I realized that I wasn't just in a hair salon, I was in a 'full service' massage parlour, with a VIP Room in the back! The salon was just the facade, while the real buisness got underway just beyond that dark door!

No wonder all the "hair salons" were open past 10pm on a Friday night! No wonder there were about 10 of them on each block! No wonder there was a handwritten price list taped to the mirror that you couldn't see from outside!

I was still after my change, but realized there was no way to communicate that I didn't want the full treatment, but was happy with the haircut, which is apparently just part of the prelude. I also realized that I had to let them keep my big bill in order to get out the door. So that's what I did...I let them keep my 100 bill, waved, thanked them with a smile, and left the salon. They got the message, and were happy with their 330% tip!

The end result was a haircut that was shorter than I wanted, but one that still looks OK. With some hair product I'm able to make it look alright. It's been about two weeks, and it's getting a bit long now. Usually I'm able to ask my stylist to thin it out a bit because my hair is as thick as a fertilized lawn. Not this time though, so it's already getting pretty think and tall at the top/front. I may have to get that taken care of sort of soon.

When I do go for my next trim, I think I'll head to a more out-in-the-open establishment, and I'll make sure to go during regular business hours!

To finish, here are a couple pics where you can see my hair the way it is now. I'm generally happy with it. The first pic is me with a great Ontario shirt we found while out and about today. I took Carol to Dongshankou, and we spent the afternoon cruising the stores. This was one of the finds! Observe the words other than "Ontario". Sweet! We didn't love it enough to buy it though.



These next two pics were taken by Carol at a nice fountain at Dongshankou. Just like last week, there were elders playing cards and it created a nice atmosphere. Thanks for reading!