Bad Hair Days - they are hoovering my husband !!

Everyday here is a bad hair day - the humidity sees to that very effectively. Fortunately, I brought a selection of hair-slides, which are necessary here to gain a semblance of control over the toilet brush that I seem to have on my head these days. However, soon after arrival, we all needed our hair cutting.


Our hairdresser from St Albans, Man Ling, who used to visit the house, did offer to come here to continue cutting our hair, but we had to conclude that, realistically, it wasn't going to be economically viable, so we had to find somewhere new. Not all hairdressers here are used to cutting caucasian hair and anything that has any waves or curls in can be whole new territory to the locals. So it was with great trepidation that I ventured into the salon in our local shopping centre.

I did a terrible mother thing there. Before letting them loose on my own hair, I tested them out on the children as they both needed haircuts before starting their new school. Adam gained a slight variation on his previous style and was left with slightly longer side burns than before, but after several attempts to get it all shorter, I finally gave up as it was looking reasonably presentable. They did do a very nice job of trimming Hannah's fringe though.


David, in a moment of bravery (or complete madness) tested out a local phenomenon - a high speed haircutting booth "$10 for 10 minutes" ($10 is approximately £3.50). They cut it very short, doing all the lower parts with a razor, then snipping at highspeed around the top. I think the hair line at the back altered slightly, moving upwards, but overall, it wasn't too bad. But the final part was interesting and unexpected. Having trimmed and shaved, they then attacked him with a flexile hose. It turned out to be a vacuum which cleaned him up by hoovering his head, neck and shoulders.





For Adam's second hair cut, the first only lasting about 3 weeks before he was desperate for another with the sideburns having reached the bottom of his ears, I left David in charge. So, it was off to the local $10 place, not a booth this time, but a small establishment in the local shopping centre. I have to say, they did a better job than the salon and Adam didn't even mind being hoovered at the end! Sometimes, his bravery surprises me!




And what did I do? Well, after a little market research with mums from school who have lived here longer, I booked an appointment at Toni & Guy. A new friend here went first and reported back, nice haircut and lovely hairwash and head massage, all done lying down on reclining bedlike seats, but she wasn't sure about the ear scrub that she received. On my visit I didn't get my ears scrubbed so felt just a little deprived (and dirty) but overall, they did a good job. It looked great (until the humidity got to it about 30 minutes later).

When I arrived, it was raining in true monsoon style and even though the walk from taxi to front door was only 50m and done with an with an umbrella, I managed to arrive soaked, so before starting on my hair, they kindly dried me off with a hairdryer first!