You take two 20-year-old young men with you who you don't know really well, and ask them to translate what you are saying to a 20-year-old woman who you've never seen before. Then you sit and watch and pray.
But it's kind of fun to sit and watch. First you are taken to the shampoo chair. A light-weight blanket is placed over your legs (to keep you warm, I guess). A dryer sheet-like rectangular thing is placed over your face as you are leaned back (to keep water from splashing on your face, I guess). You are given a very quick shampoo and taken back to the cutting chair.
A tiny strip of toweling is wrapped around your neck. A hair cutting apron that barely covers your shoulders is snapped around your neck. And away she goes--she snips as you pray. No words are said, which is really wierd and uncomfortable for me. Every once in a while she stops and looks at a picture of you on your iphone, and every once in a while she calls the missionary over to ask him if I think it's OK. I bravely point to some part of my head and say, "shorter," or "please thin this out." And away she goes again.
Finally she puts a little product in it, and I can't think of anything more to say. So she indicates that I should follow her. I get up and back we go to the shampoo chair. Blanket. Dryer sheet.
Ahh! Nice long shampoo. Conditioner. Rinse.
Back to hair cutting chair. She tells the missionary to ask me if I want a massage. (If she knew me at all, she wouldn't have had to ask.) She pulls out a can that looks like a mousse can, but with many little white tips on top. She asks the missionary to tell me it will be cold. Is that OK? OK. She presses it lightly into my scalp in three different places, and it IS cold. But it feels kind of good. She massages my scalp, then my neck, then my shoulders. Takes a good five or six minutes. Heaven.
More product and some styling and a few little snips, and Voila, we are done.
And.....it actually turns out pretty good.
And.....it actually cost less than I've been paying in Oregon.
Another adventure in Japan.
PS: What better place for a few more names of beauty shops: Lovers Blanket Hair, and Hunky Dory Hair Room.
