The chair goes down so your head can rest over the basin. A thin piece of cloth with a dab of aroma oil covers your eyes, then a towel is laid over that to completely block out the light and leave you in darkness. You can hear birds chirping and the trickle of a river from the speakers near your head. While you're growing relaxed and enjoying the sounds of nature, the basin gradually fills with bubbles that rise slowly to your head so you never get that shock of hot water on your scalp. The bubbles are massaged into your hair for a calm, quiet shampooing. Then the fingers start gliding through your hair and begin pressing your temples, sliding along the sides of your head, pushing against your forehead and different points all over your scalp and neck. I wish that massage would go on forever. For the final rinsing water is slowly poured over your hair instead of an abrasive spray from those shower-head faucets.
The cutting is all done by scissors and an electric trimmer never touches your head. When the cutting's finished you get another delicious shampooing and a hot towel to clean your face. Then another, firmer head massage with something that smells minty. Sometimes I get a back and shoulder massage, too, but not this time.
When it was all done the staff stood outside to wave me off and bow. Back in the States I was paying 50 bucks for a regular shampoo and haircut, and this costs LESS than that!
Just to see what actually happened to my head, I took some before and after photos. Believe it or not, it takes time to make my hair look dirty. I found this great wax that makes it look oily and clumped together.
I swear I wasn't giving the camera the mack-daddy eye. It just came out like that.
Incidentally while getting the haircut my phone rang. It was an unknown Japanese cell phone number and when I checked the message it was Jean Muraoka from high school! Whoa, blast from the past. Apparently she moved to Tokyo two weeks ago and got my number from Gina Colburn. She obviously doesn't know how far down south I live since she asked if I could take the train up for a visit sometime. The train?
And I'm so glad cyano found this blog! In a crazy coincidence I've been trying to look him up recently!
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