Barber Shops Abroad

One of the forgotten things about living abroad is being without your local barbershop or hairstylist. Maybe for women it's a bit less of any issue because they can get their haircut every few months. For most guys, and myself included, I need to get this hair cut every 3 weeks or it gets shaggy!

In San Francisco I was on and off between a traditional barber on Polk St near Lower Nob Hill and SuperCuts right by AT&T Park. Polk st. cost twice as much, but I was happy with Supercuts as well, the one common thread was that each visit was with the same barber, and I was a loyal customer, tipping well and building a relationship.

My last haircut was early Feb, a few weeks before we left. Since then, we were in Dubai and India, and then Argentina. By the time we reached Buenos Aires, my hair was getting shaggy, probably 5 weeks between cuts. I barely spoke Spanish, but somehow found a stylist off the main shopping district Florida St. The lady was in her mid 50s and very nice, considering. I don't think she had many customers, so she was happy to see me despite the language barrier. We ended up doing a lot of charades and hand gestures, and it definitely humbled me for life abroad! We figured it out, but it was a bit stressful. Hair cut was OK, but considering the circumstances, I'll take it. Total cost was $160 pesos or about $11 USD.

I then waited another 5 weeks and my hair started to get shaggy again. Every time I looked in the mirror my hair felt messier and unkempt, I had to get it cut. I searched around to see where the Expats went, and saw a lot of postings for hair salons, but few for barbers. Maybe it's just because guys don't write many reviews in Bs As and fewer were willing to talk about their hair.

I remember walking home from work one day and seeing a barber shop. I stopped by one afternoon and introduced myself, smiling big, and by then my Spanish was better, but still far from complete sentences. My barber's name was Luis and gave me a hearty handshake. I made the sound of an electric razor "voom, voom voom" and ran my hands down the sides of my head and said "numero dos" I think he understood, because he pulled out the clippers and my hair started to look like I wanted. Success! Total cost was about $150 pesos or $10 USD. My next cut was in Singapore at one of the IT shopping malls, I guess even geeks gotta get their hair cut! There were 3 choices. #1 A Korean style bowl cut

#2 A Japanese salon

#3 Singapore supercuts style

The Korean style was cheap! They also used a vacuum style device to suck the hair off of you. Not for me. Then I checked out the Japanese salon, which was quite expensive, about 6X more than the Korean place, and it was plush leather chairs. I sat down and they greeted me with wonderful hospitality, but despite being in Singapore, an English speaking country, they only spoke Japanese. With no site of clippers and only Japanese, I embarrassedly got up in shame, apologized profusely, and left. My final option was Singapore style.

When I walked in, the stylist asked me to pay the machine. Huh? She pointed towards a self service kiosk. It was like one of the self service machines you use to check into your flight at the airport. I entered my desired haircut and then paid exactly $12 SGD (no change given) which is about $10 USD, and received a little plastic card. Then when the chair was free, the stylist called me up, I gave her the card and we were off and running. She was fluent in English and good at her job. It ended up being a really nice haircut. Success! My next cut was only about 10 days later, as we were in Bali and it gets hot being out in the sun. I figured I could do with a little less hair, and went to a barber shop that catered to expats. There was one guy who did the translation and the barber did the work. Wow! They really took good care of me, they spent about 35 minutes ensuring each hair was cut perfectly, and then measuring again just in case. The haircut was a little military for my taste, but I'm happy with it. Total cost: $150,000 IRD or $11 USD.

My next haircut will probably be in Bangkok Thailand. Or I might get a little cocky and do it in Cambodia or Japan! Stay tuned :)

UPDATE:

Here is a picture from my haircut in Hanoi Vietnam. Total price was $9 USD and not bad at all :)