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Published: October 5th 2007
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Hair Twins!
Susie still looks better. :) I am excited to keep the back short and let the front grow. If you are ever in China, get your haircut. I know this seems like an odd recommendation for foreign travel, but trust me. It is amazing. I will fully admit that I was planning on growing my hair out for the entire year because I had heard horror stories from people on previous Asian Terms. The Chinese hairdressers were not used to cutting non-Chinese hair so they got butchered. Katie and Alexes were both talking about how they had heard that it was a great experience. After that, I opened my mind to the idea of getting a haircut…eventually. About 24 hours later, I was in class and I fell in love with one of my student’s hairstyle. It is a very popular style in China right now: short in the back with longer strands in the front. I decided that I needed that haircut. If you know me and my hair whims, you know that I make a decision and the change needs to happen STAT. I asked Susie if she would come with me to get my hair cut like hers. She giggled (naturally) and agreed to go with me the next evening.
I met Susie and Elizabeth
Before...
So this is a hideous picture, but it was the best one that I got for "Before". at the building where we have class and they walked me out the West Gate (oooh, I hadn’t been that way before) and down to the big department store across from the Chicony. They had called ahead for me, so I had an appointment. Apparently, the “barbershop” (as the girls called it) just opened recently and they even had a coupon for me!
The place was called Fa Yuan Di. I sat down to wait and I handed my camera off to my students and told them to play paparazzi. Most of the pics that I have posted are courtesy of Susie, but Elizabeth took a few, as well. A guy came up and they told me that it was time to wash my hair. He was going to do a “dry wash” so I stayed where I was. He started to massage some liquid of sorts on my scalp. It was cool, tingly and it smelled like Ricola cough drops. He worked the magic cleaner through my hair and massaged every bit of my scalp. It felt so good, I would have married this kid in a heartbeat. He was gentle and attentive. It was like my thoughts
were Braille and he was trying to read each and every one right through my skull. I was blessed out. After a good 5-10 minutes of cranial kneading, it was time to rinse. I was led into a room with sinks and beds for you to lie on. There was none of the awkward sitting-with-your-neck-jammed-back-in-the-crook-of-a-hard-sink nonsense that you get at home. I was peacefully prone as he rinsed the herbal magic out of my hair with water of the perfect temperature. Again, there was no rush. He rinsed and massaged methodically. When the rinse was over, he even patted my hair dry taking the care to blot each ear dry with a tender squeeze.
Then I was led over to the chair and I met my “hairstyle designer”. She was super cute. I had to wait a moment while she finished up with another customer so my new best friend pulled my head back into his stomach and he began to massage my face. He melted away tension from my forehead that I didn’t even know that I had. Like I said, I would have married this kid.
Finally, it was time to the cut itself. My stylist
Fa Yuan Di
This place was hopping. was quick and precise. She used Susie as a living guide for what to do. She complemented me on my soft hair and I think she was talking with my students about how my hair is so different from theirs, but I couldn’t really be sure. After the scissors were done snipping, she gave me a quick blow dry to shape. It looked easy enough to maintain- simply blow under. No fuss, my kind of hair. She did have a bit of trouble trying to get one of my long strands to just go straight. It has a tendency to want to flip. She even wet it and tried drying it again.
When it came time to pay, I was FLOORED to learn that it was only 19 yuan, or about $2.50 for all of that. I couldn’t believe it. The service was way better than ANYWHERE that I have gotten my hair cut at home and it was far cheaper than I could have imagined. Guess who is going back every 6 weeks for a trim...
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Cousin T
non-member comment
Cor - the haircut is awesome! i've just booked my flight over - i think it will be cheaper than getting a cut in the UK ;-) haha.