I always disliked saloons. I think it is because I am shy: they are not designed for people who does not like to see their reflection in the mirror. I detest places with lots of mirrors as much as I dislike having to talk to crowds and more generally groups bigger than 4 people. It might not come as a surprise if I tell you that I have been avoiding cutting my hair since I started being in charge of my decisions. Luckily, my sister has many skills, and one of them is, in her own wording, "basic hairdressing" (might it be her engineering degree helping? Not quite sure).
Since I moved to Sweden and due to the issues above, I have not managed to head in a hairdressing place.
But here in An Giang, I found the courage to step in.
The air cut place was selected based on vicinity to the An Giang university international accommodation where we are staying. Some things are similar across all countries: the hair dressers tend to have very fashionable hair styles. I went in and immediately asked for the wifi password, to have internet to use a translator for english-vietnamese.
I simply wrote "I would like to cut my hair" and after his nod I added "just a little :)"
a little bit of laughter was coming through while the 4 employees and 2 guests of the saloon discussed my request. Then, we started the little dance where everybody had an opinion on how much exactly my "just a little" meant. I showed a "C" with my left hand (5 cm?) and everybody seemed pleased.
Then, he began the process.
Every few minutes, a small chat among the 3 hairdressers, and back to it.
After the cut, two more people dried my hair out nicely and making an effort to get the hair straight. Every few minutes, a little stop to translate some sentences, none of them related to the haircut whatsoever, but more general, like any people would do when they are getting to know each other.
One hour and 10 minutes later, I was out in the warm air again, happy to have lived such an inspiring little experience.
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