Hair Cut

I haven't had my hair cut since January. It's been way past due for a trim. I really don't like getting my hair cut, unless it's my sister with the scissors. I am typically impulsive with hair cuts and simply walk into a place and plop myself down to get it done. Today was no different.

I was in Yu Yuan looking for mahjong racks. I bought mahjong tiles there the other day, but couldn't find any racks. Yu Yuan has a bazaar around it with tons of stalls selling all sorts of stuff. It's really touristy, but I bought the tiles there as I wanted ones with numbers printed on them. I had been in a stall in a non-tourist area selling mahjong tables (they actually mix the tiles!) and sacks of tiles. None of the tiles had numbers printed on them; only the Chinese characters. I had a bit more time to wander today than I did before, so I was going to see if there was another stall selling the racks. If we were playing in true Chinese fashion, we would eschew them, but the racks makes play easier. I walked around and through the bazaar with no success and was ready to go home. I left the bazaar and started walking down the road and ended up on a side street and then a lane. One of the shops in the lane was a hair salon. I was trying to decipher a sign with prices hung on the outside of the store when one of the employees invited me inside. Wei shenme bu ne? Why not?

I sat down in a chair and had my hair washed. A young man pumped one hand full of shampoo and then started sudsing the crown of my head using the other hand to squeeze a bottle filled with water to wet a small area of my hair. Mind you that this was done sitting in a barber's chair with no sink in sight. Once he worked up a good lather, he slowly incorporated the dry portion of my hair into the soapy part. He proceeded to massage my scalp for a good 10 minutes. Wonderful, though I couldn't help but wonder how he was going to get the soap out of my hair. When he was finished shampooing and massaging my head, he moved me to the back of the salon where the sink was located. Ah. Question answered. I didn't have to bend under a spigot outside. There he rinsed out my hair and continued to massage my scalp. He wrapped my head in a towel and I returned to my chair. A second man dried my hair and cut it. All that for 10 RMB (about 1 USD).