90 minutes and 80 Kuai

Wednesday morning I had a Chinese lesson. I started using a new tutor. She’s great. Most of all its extremely convenient as she comes to my home for our hour long session. At the start of my most recent lesson I asked her to translate 5 statements for me into Chinese. She did translate them but into pinying – not Chinese characters. I guess she figured I’d be able to remember the correct pronunciation and be able to handle my next adventure on my own.

A day later, my adventure began. My mission was simple - get a haircut. I walked two blocks down from my hotel and entered a bustling salon. Initially I thought it was busy due to customers. I was mistaken; it was due to the amount of staff. The staff outnumbered the customers at least 2:1.

I was quickly seated in a barber's chair and a man working at the salong came over. He started to say something and I put up my hand to stop him. I’d come prepared. No use trying to explain things with hand gestures. I took out my notebook and started to read my translated statements.

1) I need a haircut
2) Please cut off 5 centimeters

I didn’t get past the second statement as a small crowd had gathered around me and one of the group my notes from me. She was Chinese but was able to read pinying. I figured I was set to go. The rest of my instructions were pretty simple:

3) Keep the style the same – just shorter
4) Don’t cut my bangs I am growing them out
5) When all is done I still need to be able to pull my hair back (a.k.a. ponytail)

First step – wash the hair. In China these step is extremely different from the US. First, this guy came over with a small bottle filled with a clear liquid. He squirted some onto my head. I thought to myself “This must be some sort of pre-treatment. I can handle this.” I was wrong. He proceeded to lather my hair with shampoo while I remained seated in the barber chair. After he was done I was then brought over to the sinks. The soap was washed out and I was treated to a length scalp massage. This first step took 45 minutes.

Second step – cut the hair. Another individual was tasked to do this. He indicated with his fingers how much he’d cut off. About two inches (5cm). I said ok. Then the scissors came out. Within moments I knew something was wrong. It seemed the instructions I had written either didn’t make sense to them or were being blatantly ignored. This was supported as the hair stylist began to cut new layers into my hair; obviously a violation of my third request. Since the cutting had begun the only action I could take was to wait and hope for good results!

After 45 minutes of cutting I was done. After paying 80rmb ($12) I walked out of the store. I walked out to the sounds of a man who in the same 90 minute period changed his tune. Early he had told me in broken English “Hair very unhealthy.” With one foot out the store I heard him say “you American now beautiful.”

You can check out the results for yourself:
http://picasaweb.google.com/esjohnson80/Haircut#