20 May 2014 / leggypeggy

Poor John and the almighty cheap haircut

barber, barber shop, Beijing, China, haircuts, Poor John

Chinese barber shops usually have black and white poles

Poor John is obsessed with getting cheap haircuts—not so much so that he’ll let me cut his hair, but obsessed nevertheless.

He happily recalls many $2 haircuts on our travels throughout Africa. In Nigeria there was a difference between barbing and barbering. Barbing was done with clippers only (or so Poor John surmises) and barbering throws in a bit of scissor work. He stuck with the barbing only—no sense overspending on a haircut.

He was also pretty pleased with a $4 haircut (plus a $1 tip I made him give) at the hairdressing school in Denver Colorado.

Poor John finally getting a haircut

The equivalent school at the Canberra Institute of Technology charges about $12. It was closed during the Easter holidays so Poor John decided to let his hair grow until he made it to China and another land of cheap haircuts—don’t mention the time he got gouged in western China.

So we’re back in China. We landed in Beijing about 5:30am on Friday. Within four hours we had checked into the hotel, had showers and were on our way to see—you guessed it—a barber.

Of course, we weren’t looking for any particular barber, just any old barber who could/would do the job on the cheap. Any sign that said ‘unisex’ and any hairdresser wearing chains or high heels were to be avoided. Sequins were out and so was silver trim.

I spotted the black-and-white, checked barber poles first. Poor John hadn’t even noticed them, but I suppose he was looking for the standard red and white striped poles you see in most of the world.

Using a bit of sign language and a note pad, the receptionist explained that he had a choice of a 40, 60 or 100-yuan haircut. Not surprisingly, Poor John thought 40 yuan would do the trick, so we sat down to wait for his turn.

Well what a palatial joint. Each barber had his own ornately carved and well-equipped cubicle.

The most palatial cubicle

The sixth and last cubicle was quite a bit larger than the others and was probably where he-who-commands-100-yuan-per-haircut operated. He was, indeed, laboring away—hair by hair—on a fellow’s meticulous crew cut. What a production.

But that wasn’t Poor John’s barber. No, that fellow was in the middle of someone else’s cut when we arrived so after we sat down, the receptionist brought us two cups of refreshing green tea.

Soon enough it was Poor John’s turn and his 40-yuan cut was done with care and attention. He even got his hair washed—twice.

He reckons this will hold him until we are back in China towards the end of July. I suggested that, as 40 yuan is less than $7, he might spring for another cut in between, somewhere in the Stans. He’s thinking about it.