Total Body Haircut
February 06, 2003
Today I had my first ever haircut in Japan. In fact, it’s the first hair cut outside of Vancouver. Eri found this place on the web that was very close to work, in the mall-like hallway between two train stations. From the outside, we saw that all the staff were fairly old. This wasn’t a promising sign because if any of you guys out there have ever been to the barbers in Chinatown - they’re so old their hands shake when they’re cutting your hair. They almost never do a good job. It is so not worth going to those places even though they’re dirt cheap. So anyway, when I saw the average of the staff exceeded my weight in kilograms, I was a bit scared. But, I had just finished working and I was tired and in desperate need of a cut so what the hell. Eri quickly explained that I was a foreigner who didn’t speak the language and briskly told this dude what I needed. He led me to a swivel chair only it looked really advanced and was made of plastic and other stuff. You could tell there were gizmos and electronics underneath because there were some buttons and displays. Cool I thought
I was scared that these dudes would make a debauchery of my hair and I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. Instead, the guy was super skilled in the scissor arts and really quickly cut my hair. He didn’t even use the shaver thingy that my usual places in Vancouver use. He only used a simple pair of scissors. It was amazing how fast he could pick up a lock of hair, make a precision cut, and then pick up another lock. I was slightly mesmerized by this. After the cut, he opened this contraption in front of me. I could only describe it as a sink with a few buttons and places to hold warmed up, mixed shampoo. He lathered up and made me bend my head over the now functional sink and proceeded to wash. After that, he applied I think 2 other things to my hair - I suppose one was conditioner but I have no idea what the other thing was. It smelled nice though, kinda like spring time fresh with coconut or something.
After that, he did some massaging on my head which felt really nice. Then he dried the hair a bit and applied some more stuff. I thought this was weird, he was putting in a lot more hair products than I was used to. Then he started massaging my neck and shoulder muscles. That’s a nice surprise, what good service. He then brings out some machine the size of an iron and plugs it in. He presses it to my legs. Oh! It’s a handheld massager but why is he massaging my legs? He essentially massages my whole body save my ass and privates. It felt very nice on my shoulders because I’ve always had a problem with tense shoulder muscles.
Oh yeah, he asked me if I wanted a shave by pointing to my 5 o clock shadow. I said no and also no to shaving my eyebrows but then he went and shaved my forehead. I never even realized I had folicles there in the first place. My forehead is now nice and reflective
I thought by now that he would charge me extra for all the other stuff but when we got to the pay counter, the price was still the same, about $30. Shit I thought, I came in for a haircut and pretty much got a total body relaxation package. Sweet deal. I am definitely going back there next time and I will get the shave because I now trust this dude. For the record, I’m guessing he was about 50ish years old. I am now such a hottie even I can’t believe it.
