12.12.07

Had a haircut by an indian barber!

Well, as I am in India I have to have the full on experience right? So today when Casey said he was going for a haircut I decided to join him to get a trim also. As he had many haircuts in what is called "hair salon" for men or "beauty parlour" for women, I trusted my senses and since it is only hair (I know that some girls would disagree with this statement) and it will grow back I thought I would be safe in the hands of an indian barber. Afterall daddy is a barber, who is actually not allowed to touch my hair anymore:)

So although I was slighly nervous to sit in a box room with thighly squeezed 3 barber chairs, with plastic combs that could be carrying headlice and scissors that are very rusty and wonky; I surrendered in the hands of a very young trainee who himself had a very dodgy haircut. I knew that as long as he only took one inch from the ends and could easily see how my hair was layered, there couldnt be much damage done.

As I sat in my chair, Casey settled in his for his haircut also; he seemed to have the more senior and experienced barber who actually spoke good english. We had conversations about my dad and how he has been a barber from the age of 15 and how much haircuts cost in London. Casey was so much more relaxed as I closely watched every move of the scissors my barber had.

But it all ok, he was in fact more nervous than I was and took as little as he can from the ends whilst having one eye on the cricket match on the telly. There wasnt much of a conversation unfortunately as his english wasnt great but we did giggle at each other time to time. There did come a point where he wanted to give me a very short fringe but I firmly stopped him from going anywhere near there.

Then obviously he wanted to give me the headmassage afterwards, which felt more of a slapping my head, cracking eggs with his palms (I used to do that as a child) and mixing somewhat very nasty oils in my hair and making a right mess. I have to put up the photos on the website to show you all what it looked like. He also wanted to give me a face massage but I refused as I'm very particular about who tocuhes my face and how clean their hands are. He then moved on to my shoulders and arms and squeezed them so tightly that I have bruises in the shape of his fingers. So his sense of massage was a sense of boxing match for me. But I survived and it cost me 120rupees in total which is something like 1.50pounds.

Anyhow, I survived the experience and now heading home to wash the smell off my hair before I suffocate everyone in the internet cafe. Photos to follow...