Getting a haircut

Those of you that know me well also know that I usually get myself a haircut when I am out traveling. This time is no exception. I like to see what it is like to cut my hair at different places. Like in Italy it was all done with the razor and in Venezuela I ended up looking like a moron. It is all good fun.

So this morning I went downstairs in the lobby and said that I was going out to get a "hair-ka-to" The lady in the reception got all excited and gave me a small flyer that said "Ray Field - (insert lot's of Japanese signs here) 1500 yen" . It had a picture of a woman with lots of hair and some nails. My first thought was ouch, do I want to go to this place? But to Ray Field I went (in the rain mind you) and what a great place! Big open hair saloon with loads of hairdressers running around between the chairs. When I got in the door I receive a paper to write my name and email address on (membership?) and then off to the chair. After a short while this guy comes up to me and speaks with very good English. He asks me what kind of hair I want and where I come from and all that. He tells me that he has been working in London for 3 years before he came back to Fukuoka. He is the supervising stylist if you want. So he describes the different prices and why it is now only 1500 yen. They have more or less just opened the saloon so that's why they have the low price. He also asks me if I want a senior stylist, normal one or a top senior stylist. They all have different prices according to how much experience they have. This is something totally different from back home. Except for when someone is in training and is not a stylist (hairdresser) yet. But yeah, the top senior stylist is more than double the price of the normal one. The normal stylist has like 1-2 years of experience so as I am feeling adventurous I choose to go with that. The haircut is done with normal scissors and it is modeled after an image in a magazine they found that resembled something of what I said I wanted my hair to look like. After my haircut I think I am pretty close. Although the guy in the magazine had some cooler clothes than I was wearing. My old t-shirt with the oh so popular superman logo on has seen it's better days. I think it is soon time to stop using it in public. Well back to my hairdressing experience. After the cut I get a wash and a head massage. This was really nice. The room where the washing was done was dark with a blue light in the ceiling. This had a calming effect on me and I could have fallen asleep in there. Really neat place! If you are considering a haircut in Fukuoka and are in the Tenjin area I would recommend this place. It's on Watanabe dori not far away from the LoFt shopping center, but a bit more south and on the opposite side of Watanabe.

Another thing I've noticed here is that your umbrella does not seem to get stolen. Even if you leave it outside a shop in a box for umbrellas. Your umbrella is still there when you come out. This is just great! I would not hold it against anyone that takes mine instead of their own, because many of them look alike. But it is still there.