A Japanese Haircut

Yesterday morning I decided I needed a change. In my delirious tired state, I grabbed a pair of scissors (yup, just some regular old paper scissors) and hacked away at some hair on my forehead. I mean, I haven’t had bangs since the age of four, why not acquire them at 7 am as I am rushing to get ready for school? I forgot, however, that wet hair actually contracts when it dries so the self-inflicted and anything-but-luscious bangs rapidly became an uneven chunk that fell into my eyes for the rest of the day (which consisted of six hours of trying to arrange and assemble kindergarteners and early elementary students, teachers, and mothers into various “English activities.”)

I frantically returned home and grabbed the necessary supplies—a dictionary and some old People magazines—and went out in search of the classic symbol of the barbershop, a spinning red and white pole (they are the same here). Monday is apparently the day to take a day off if you are a hairdresser and everywhere was closed but I found a little shop with 3 nice looking women where I could inquire about my situation. Obviously aware of just how un-becoming the chunk was, they were quickly on their phones calling whomever they could think of and they finally established an open shop (all I could understand was “gaijin coming, yes…gaijin coming...”) I arrived to meet a helpful team of young people where the “consultation” consisted of a lot of pointing and gesturing towards American celebrities and turning down their ideas from the Japanese style books (both men and women hairstyles are VERY different here, think 80’s, think really short on top and really long underneath, and think of all of the hairspray you can muster up). I then had not one but three people cutting at my hair which is a little nerve-racking but highly entertaining. Then one more person jumped in for the blow-drying, straightening, and curling process. The result? The haircut was above-average and the chunk is no longer in my eyes which is all I care about. We’ll see what happens when I have to style it myself, it’s too bad that I don’t have 4 eager stylists living in my little apartment with me all the time.