First Haircut in Japan

For quite some time now, I'd been intending to get my hair trimmed but never getting around to it. I figured I'd put it off until it became absolutely necessary. And that's pretty much what I did. My last haircut was in early July, before I left for Japan, and it has been about six months since then. My hair grows fairly quickly, so it was getting pretty unruly, as well.

Since I'm in Kochi but haven't returned to work yet, I have a good amount of free time on my hands. On Wednesday I up and decided to go to the salon in the mall and get a haircut. I arrived around 1:30 and asked if they had any open appointments that day (though I asked rather incoherently, I think), and was given an appointment at 4:00. I wandered around the mall until about 20 minutes before my appointment.

When I went into the salon, I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to do with my hair. I figured I'd look through the magazines for a picture to refer to, and if I couldn't find one, I'd just ask them to cut off 4 centimeters. I knew how to say that much, but I wasn't entirely sure what I'd do if they asked me any questions. I had brought along a page photocopied out of one of my textbooks; it listed a bunch of words and phrases related to getting a haircut. Of course, it turned out that I left it in my purse, which they took from me at the beginning of my appointment, so that didn't do me a lot of good. Fortunately, I did find a style I liked in the magazine.

When I first arrived, one of the stylists took my coat, shopping bag and purse and put them in a storage room in the front of the salon. I'm guessing it was so I wouldn't have to cart everything around with me, or put things on the floor with all the cut hair. This raised a few challenges when I had to fill out a short form (client profile, maybe?) and forgot my phone number and area code. I put down a phone number, but I'm pretty sure I switched the first and last halves of my actual phone number. Oh well. After that, I had a little time to wait since I had arrived early. I helped myself to one of the hairstyle magazines and tried to figure out what I wanted to do with my hair. Most of the styles seemed intended for women with curled or permed hair, so there wasn't a lot for me to refer to, but I found something that looked more or less like what I wanted.

When my appointment started, the stylist sat at a table with me and asked me to show her the photo. She examined my hair, asked a few questions and made some comments. I didn't understand all of it, but from what I could tell, she was confirming the details of what I wanted. Sometimes, when I'm asked a question, all I can do is choose between "yes" and "no" and hope for the best. This time I was fairly certain I was saying what I intended to, but I wasn't 100% sure.

After determining what she would be doing with my hair, the stylist took me over to the hair washing station. She washed my hair very thoroughly but gently, rinsed it out, applied conditioner, rinsed it again and gave me a head massage. I guess that's a standard part of the process here, but I wasn't entirely expecting it. She then towel-dried my hair and we moved over to the hair cutting station. I think the style consultation and the process of washing my hair took about a half hour.

At the station, I was given a few magazines to choose from. I picked one that looked to be a fashion magazine; at least it would have interesting pictures. I had a while to sit and wait. It also turned out that I was seated next to Cathy, a friend I met through another ALT (also named Kathy). I think she was getting a permanent. We talked a little bit, and then went back to our respective magazines.

After a while, the stylist returned and began cutting my hair. She worked very quickly and smoothly. It always amazes me how hair stylists can pick out sections of hair and know just how to cut them to get the right effect. It's like magic; they reach out, suddenly the hair is in their hand just as it needs to be, and the scissors go to work. I know it takes a lot of practice, but it always looks so effortless. While she worked on my hair, the stylist asked a few of the usual questions about me, but for most of the time we were quiet.

The only challenge came when the stylist asked what I wanted to do with my bangs. I didn't really know what I wanted, or any of the right vocabulary, so I just kind of gestured a horizontal line in front of my forehead and let her make what she would of it. My bangs were sort of asymmetrical, sloping down from the right side of my forehead to the left. What she did was to keep the same general style but trim them and improve the overall shape. Which was a blessing, as I had kind of butchered them by trimming them myself a few times since July.

Once the cutting was done, the stylist blow dried my hair and went to work with a straightening iron. She did every section of hair a few times, and I have a lot of hair, so it was a long process. After that, she made a few finishing snips to my bangs, and I was all set. The result: a medium-long cut with layering around the face, slightly longer in the back than in the front, and angled bangs. My hair doesn't look drastically different than it did before, but it has more of an actual shape now. I'm really happy with it. Of course, today I tried blow drying my hair and it doesn't look nearly as nice as it did coming out of the salon, but that's how it goes.

When I went to pay, I had been expecting it to cost 4,200 yen (the price listed on the sign), but it turned out that Cathy had gotten me a discount by telling the stylist that I'm a friend of hers. I thought that referral discounts usually worked the other way; the person making the referral gets the discount. But I certainly have nothing to complain about. I think my haircut ended up costing about 3,400 yen. I left the salon feeling very cheerful, though a little sad that I'd have to put on my helmet to bike home.