Pampered in Paradise

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Following our "experience" at the Turkish Bath we returned to the pool to start the process of the ultimate tan. I must admit, my skin was very, very soft following all the scrubbing, rubbing, massaging, stretching and contorting. I had noticed on our return that a hair dresser was advertising their service at the resort, so went to check this out. Following the signs I found a small, rather empty looking salon with a turkish guy standing outside - I identified him as the "Hairdresser" by the large "hairdresser" sign hanging around his neck. Being blonde is a bit of hard work and I had meant to have my hair done before our holiday, but time ran out and finances reigned so didn't. After trying to explain to the hairdresser in broken english what half head of foils was and could they do this, I found out the women hair dresser was at the other salon in town and he would need to phone him to ask if he was available. A bit of Turkish talk later he tried to tell me he was available in 5 minutes, I took this as he could only do this at 5pm which was too late, so after an awkward game of charades (it's funny how your hand communicate at these times) finally understood what he was trying to tell me.

I returned 5 minutes later to see Burak and Usef coming back - Burak with suitcase in hand to work his magic. I sat down, Usef tells me he had explained what I need to Burak and everything is "no problem", then he leaves....I am left with Burak who speaks very limited English other than Hello and then I start to wonder if I have really thought this through...

Burak seems a little flustered and nervous, but gets to work, opening his case removing his tools of the trade - consisting from what I can see of a brush and a single comb...with teeth missing. I look at his hair...which seems very "in vogue" and styled and find comfort in this...until Burak starts to look around the salon (which consists of a mirror, the chair I am sitting on, a basin, a set of drawer on wheels and a cupboard). I'm not sure what he was looking for, but he shifts some old newspapers off the set of drawers and moves them to the cupboard..then opens the drawer next to me to reveal a few loose hair clips, and an orange...seeming to have found what he was looking for, Burak proceeds to section my hair with his comb, twist it and clip it, repeating this process until all of my hair is twisted and clipped into tiny balls on by head - similar to a 90's version of Scary Spice. This mission obviously completed, he opens the cupboard and finds a pot to mix the colour in, blowing out the residue inside and proceeds to mix the colour which appears to have a purple hue. It is at this point that I resolve to myself that I travel for new experiences....this does not mean that all experiences have to be good....I will survive if my hair is purple for the rest of the holiday...there is no point in trying to ask Burak if he know's what he is doing - I do not want to assume the worst and offend him, nor do I think he will understand me anyway. It is also at this point that I realise my hair normally takes 2.5 hours at the best of times and here I am alone in an empty salon, with a person who does not understand me, magazines that are ALL in turkish and no background music to break the silence....I'm not good with silence...another thought that enters my mind is that turkish girls are never blonde....does he know about blonde colouring?

After mixing the colour, this is placed down and Burak takes a roll of tin foil from the cupboard - phew I think, at least he knows I wanted highlights only - then he starts to measure and rip the individual sections of tinfoil off the roll, painfully, one...by....one...

That done I think, great, now we'll get started...no...Burak starts to fold each individual foil, not once at the top, but in half too....one....by....one. I sit there for a bit, weighing my options then think, well I may as well make myself useful so I get his attention and gesture if he would like some help to fold the foils - he looks a bit perplexed then gets it, and passes me half the pile showing me what to do...after a bit he says "thank you" in broken English. So here we are about 45 minutes into my appointment folding foils for my hair...I feel we bonded. This done, he rolls over the rolly drawers, places his equipment on top and with a shaky hand, unravels my hair starting from the bottom of my head (I'm guessing he's doing a full head, not the half head like I asked for). Putting the first foil in place, he brushes on the purple concoction, then with his one and only comb, combs the hair with the colour (?), reapplies more purple and then slowly folds up the foil, carefully at the middle, then the side, then the other side and voila! first foil done, only 100 more to go....

As Burak continues this regime a new concern starts to evolve in my head....if he takes this long for each foil, the first foils are going to process way before the other side - I am either going to end up with one half blonde, the other half mousey, or worst still my hair will break and fall out! I keep these thoughts to myself for what seems like an eternity until Burak (I swear over an hour), checks the first section of foils before commencing another section on the other side - I am relieved! He knows to check and when he checked he didn't look worried! I can now breathe a little and hating the silence attempt to make conversation...the benefit of this is that if I say something stupid, he probably won't understand me anyway so this can end well. We attempt a bit of a conversation which I felt went well. I ask how long he has been a hairdresser, he tells me 10 years ( I find this hard to believe as he looks younger than me...however I suppose this is getting easier to do), I ask if he has always lived in Bitez, he said "yes, very nice!", I ask if he likes to do women's or men's hair, he tells me "women's hair, as he has to shave, pluck and burn nose and ear hairs for men...! He also likes blonde hair... I ask him to teach me a few turkish words - Hello is "Merhaba", Goodbye is "bye, bye" but I see now that it is actually Hoşça kalın and thank you is tesekkur ederim...I couldn't get this one.

I was relieved when he said we would wash half the foils out now and wait for the other to process (well not in so many words, but I got the gist) - I would have hair on my head for another day! Tilting my head into the basin I was met by a shower of what felt like icy cold water to the head, washing the colour out - normally this would be refreshing, but in an air-conditioned room, this was just like taking a cold shower! However, 45 minutes later I walked out of the salon blonder (phew) and very happy with my new found friend converting me from a mousey imp to a blonde again! While there were a few concerning moments throughout the process, this was a fun experience, giving me a taste of a turkish personality without the sales pitch behind it.

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