Paying a fortune for something that failed but still feel utterly pleased about the whole thing doesn't seem very logical, does it. Well, been there, done that, just a few hours ago.
Namely, it's been 10+ years since I last had any other colour hair, than the natural one, meaning that by now I'd gotten pretty tired of it. After some five years of going-to-change-any-time-now, finally booked a time for today and asked the hairdresser to give me random splashes of darker brown, highlights and purple. But when all was said and done, most of the hair kept the original colour, the parts that were supposed to be purple turned something blueish grey whereas the dark brown parts do resemble purple in some light and the lighter colour did absolutely nothing at all... So maybe the last time I tried to self-dye some parts of hair with a temporary red with no visible effect whatsoever wasn't my failure after all - seems my hair just pretty much refuses to accept the dyes used here.
Well, in any case, it's a change, so mission accomplished, I guess, but moreover it's the rest of the experience around it all that make it all worthwhile. Picture this:
- a small two-chair salon run by an artsy couple
- incredible stylish decorations and potted plants everywhere (feel like I've written about those before.. hm), part of walls hung with art from local artists (paintings, jewellery) you can purchase
- hip-hop music playing
- as soon as you arrive, the hairdresser in superfashionable clothing comes to take and hang up your coat (on a piece of natural wood hung from the ceiling by wires
- you get a meter-long huggy-pillow when sitting down in the chair to rest your elbows on
- and a selection of magazines, of course, thick volumes on high fashion and hairstyles, not gossip pages printed with ink that prefers to stay on your fingers instead of on the plastic pages
- also an additional folding table to set down whatever notebooks or phone or whatnot you want to be able to access during the haircut when the board under the mirror is too far away
- oh yeah, and the covering cape-sheet has proper sleeves, not just slits in the fabric, so you can do stuff without getting hair everywhere on you
- neck is properly padded with numerous towels
- the two hairdressers seem to be conducting an elaborate but effortless-from-practice dance where they work in turns on the two customers performing different procedures... and not in a style of one always doing the washing and one the dyeing, just randomly changing tasks with no detectable communication whatsoever - mesmerising to observe
- and compliments.. I mean, they are a norm in this country, but more often than not, just part of being polite, not heartfelt and like these... easy way to tell - when you've actually done nothing to deserve the compliment, it is a space filler... whereas when you've just finished explaining your work and your side-work (that have absolutely nothing to do with each other) in Japanese, then compliments about talent and Japanese language ability are not out of place ;)
- of course getting some creative work done while taking a natural break from the conversation is an added bonus
- washing the hair includes a head massage, also the chair is reclining like at a dentist and your eyes are covered with a towel so that light from the ceiling wouldn't bother them
- the older lady beside me also got a back massage while waiting for some chemical to take effect
- and both of us were served a beverage (choice being hot or cold tea or coffee, juice, sth-else-I've-forgotten) and sweets
- the delicious tea came mixed with milk and sugar as per accepted offer in an amazing green-glazed clay mug that might as well have originated from the medieval ages, set on top of a coaster that looked like a small knit rug (don't know whether there is a proper word for this in English, should ask some specialists ;P) set onto a small wooden tray
- and the hairdresser remembers absolutely incredible things about you from that one visit more than half a year ago.For example: name, country of origin, field of study down to that I work on plants, that I introduced Shazam to them and that I asked for orange juice last time and commented that Country Maam is my favourite Japanese cookie - they actually apologised that they didn't have any today.. and hell yes, I am eating the cookies in that situation, wheat or no wheat!
- blowdrying, styling and wonderfully smelling hair-treatment in included
- upon leaving you receive a gift of a calendar and the salon logo done in amazing street-art style by a 15 year old artist
- also get asked whether you'd be willing to show off the new hairdo for an instagram video (guess I'm secretly famous now...)
- and then you get escorted outside and waved at until biking off into the distance
Go There!
Cheers,
Hedi
