Tenille finally gets a haircut

I knew that sooner or later I would have to get a haircut in China, and it was obvious that sooner rather than later was the best choice.  I am not brave enough yet to go to a salon where they don’t speak any English.  How do you pantomime "long layers"?  A friend from church recommended I go to Somerset Apartments, which ironically is where we almost chose to live, and have Rocky cut my hair for 100RMB ($15).  Our ayi couldn’t believe that I would pay so much to get my haircut.  She says that the most she has ever paid for a haircut is 20RMB, and she’s paid as little as 5RMB (that’s less than $1!). 

People have told me that pictures work well, so I looked all morning for the haircut I thought I wanted.  I found a few and took the printouts with me.  The salon treatment began with a scalp massage and shampoo.  That alone was worth the $15!  But, I still had to get my haircut, so the gal did my hair up in a towel wrap and led me over to Rocky.  I showed him the pictures, and he spoke pretty good English.  I told him I wanted to keep my length, but add long layers and some framing around my face.  He examined my hair and did what seemed like a preliminary "sketch’ of how he was going to cut.  Then he meticulously began cutting.  It took a lot longer than I’m used to, but I appreciated that he was taking his time.  As he started cutting layers, I said "not too short".  He chuckled a bit and said, "don’t worry".  That’s when my body went tense.  I started thinking that I should have just asked for a trim, but it was too late.  He was cutting a lot off!  Again, I said, "not too short."  When he got to my bangs, he started adding more bangs.  This is when I was done being polite, and I said, "I don’t want more bangs."  I was glad when he put the scissors down and moved onto blow drying.

The blow drying was like I was undergoing surgery.  The girl who washed my hair came over to "assist".  She would hold up parts of my hair while Rocky straightened and curled my hair with a round brush.  He would kind of grunt to indicate when the girl should let my hair down or hold another part up.  When he was done, he said that I looked fashionable.  Honestly, I haven’t quite decided if I like it yet.  It’s something new, and I’m sure I’ll get used to it.  Like my dad says, you’re only a month away from a potentially bad haircut.  Rocky says to come back in 2 months for a trim.  Maybe by then I’ll be brave enough to go to an all Chinese salon as it seems like speaking English didn’t really make a difference.

Caleb took pictures of my new haircut, so you can judge for yourself.

Before picture at my noodle and dumpling cooking class:

new do: