First time

A visit to an Indian barber shop is like going to a hair salon, a men's grooming centre and massage parlour simultaneously! I experienced it two days ago.

I don't frequent it regularly preferring a proper hair salon for want of an up to date haircut.....Come to think of it, even if I had engaged Vidal Sassoon personally my hair still remains un-stylable..So why bother? LOL!

In fact I may only have had haircuts at Indian barber shops about 10 times for the last 15 years. But, two days ago I tried something which is out of my normal routine. Finished exercising and decided to have a haircut. Somehow, my instict dictated me "Indian barber shop"! And why not? So I drove to one near my home.

The one which I went is owned by two young Indian barbers...!

Plonked myself on the seat and gave the younger of the two instruction on how I wanted my hair done. And he asked "Mau cukur sekali ka?" (Do you want a shave?). I was that scruffy looking that he had to ask....! Never in my whole life that I need assistance to shave my facial hair! Yes I do admit that I feel like being pampered once in a blue moon (who doesn't? In my case though, pampering sessions are never on my list of must-do's!) but not at a barber shop.

I have this to confess...Accompanying my dad on his three-weekly-visits to barber shops when I was little had made me develop a certain phobia! Dad used to (may be he still does - this shows how detached I am with his routine nowadays) get his facial hair shaven by Indian barbers after his haircuts. The sight of a barber wielding a shiny open-edged-knife waving it in the air and slicing through the facial hair gave me the creeps (I was after all about 6 or 7 then) that I swore on my life to never get a shave from a barber....Gille*te double edged disposable razors will do just fine for me, thank you very much!

Anyway back to the story, the adventurous side of me took control of the day and I replied positively to the barber's question! He had this tube of shaving cream like the one my dad used to have umpteen years ago and started lathering it on parts of my face for for the shaving ritual. I was a bit tense when he started brandishing the knife in the air (does he need to do that?)...!

I was pleasantly surprise, though, with his skills as the razor danced lightly on my face - may be it was the amount of cream applied by him which made the shaving process a painless adventure. Truthfully, I have never had a clean shave like the one I had by the barber! I was extremely pleased with the end-result - no occasional stubs found on my face as I usually would it if I had done it myself using a Gille*te!

And oh...at the end of the shave, he asked me "Mau pusing kepala?" (Do you want me to twist your head?). And I said why not....He put one hand under my chin and the other on my head and twisted it and "crack"...! My shoulder and head felt sooo light after that! And the finale was a short shoulder massage...Heavenly!

For RM12, a haircut a proper shave and a bit of shoulder massage - it's a steal! I would definitely go back!

BTW pic above is that of Yusof having his haircut two months back......