I’ve been in Taiwan for 14 years, but it’s been about ten years since my last visit to a hairdresser (I’ve been doing it myself).
Anyway, it’s been so long I’d forgotten about the “bonus” they throw in at the start. Yeah, you know what I’m talking about … the head, neck and back massage.
Sweet.
I mean what a great idea. It just makes the whole experience of getting a haircut that much more …how shall I say … tantalizing. And it doesn’t cost them anything, except an extra 5-10 minutes of their time.
If I owned a salon or hairdresser’s in the west, that’s the first thing I’d do - train all my staff to give great massages.
Taiwan, maybe for the first time, gets 5 stars for service and ingenuity.
sorry to burst yr bubble there mate, but has it been 14 years since you had a haircut back home in the west? i cant recall not getting a head massage with a cut back in oz, ever.
my current hairdresser here in taiwan massages for a second or two and thats it
Every few weeks, I go to the nearest hair cutters, just across the street, the only one I’ve ever been to in my 8 months here in Taiwan. For $150, I get my hair cut from the same lady. She’s never given me a massage, but I’ve seen her giving massages for a good 5 min or more. But those clients also got shampoos, which I don’t.
Ah well. I find a haircut to be pretty relaxing even without a massage. Maybe next time I’ll ask for a shampoo.
BTW, I’ve never had a massage at a salon in the States. I guess that’s only because… well, I didn’t go to salons. More like barber shops, for me.
Gee, thursday must be haircut day on the island.
Got mine and the young Cowbys trimmed yesterday afternoon also.
And MAW…my barber back in Sunset Beach, Cali - “The Barbershop” on PCH, Ol’ Glenn Syrop…has been doing the massage thing for 15 yrs or longer.
He actually has one of the those old Buck Rodgers looking electri vibrating gadgets he strapped on his hands a buzzes the stress and cares away…
And NO!..there are no happy endings at his place…ya perverts!
I hate going to hair dressers in Taiwan.
I show up with nicely brushed hair. Then they matt it all up when washing it. And even with them tearing it out of my scalp it takes almost an hour to brush out the rats that they put in it while washing it.
No massage is enough to get me ready for that torture.
[quote=“SuchAFob”]I hate going to hair dressers in Taiwan.
I show up with nicely brushed hair. Then they matt it all up when washing it. And even with them tearing it out of my scalp it takes almost an hour to brush out the rats that they put in it while washing it.
No massage is enough to get me ready for that torture.[/quote]
I know, it’s just never as good as at home, is it??
A massage at the hairdressers is certainly not standard practice in Australia. I have never been offered a massage at any of the hairdressers or barbers I have been to in Melbourne. I don’t know where AWOL gets his massages from. Perhaps he goes to some Chinese or Thai massage parlours that also offer discount haircuts.
[quote=“the chief”][quote=“SuchAFob”]I hate going to hair dressers in Taiwan.
I show up with nicely brushed hair. Then they matt it all up when washing it. And even with them tearing it out of my scalp it takes almost an hour to brush out the rats that they put in it while washing it.
No massage is enough to get me ready for that torture.[/quote]
I know, it’s just never as good as at home, is it??
[/quote]
Such a Fob, you gotta find the places that don’t “dry wash” your hair. I had the same problem before I cut my hair AND found a place that washed my hair in the sink. It once took 2 women about 25 minutes to comb out my hair after one of those washes!
And chief, what about getting asked, ala your picture, where you itch? Throws me off everytime when the girl asked me if my head itches anywhere. Even if it did, I sure would feel weird asking some stranger to itch it for me!
I have had close-cropped hair since I don’t know when. I feel much more comfortable in Taiwan than my long-haired buddies.
Put on a good blade, and take it all off. Shave all head hair, as long as you’ve got a good-shaped skull, then all is no problem. I’m not an every-day kind of fanatic, but age carries on, there’s more and more routes!
I liked my last haircut. I closed my eyes and cut off everything that felt straight. It was much easier than trying to do it in a mirror. For my next one, I’m going to use a razor.
Dry washing is when they put the cleaning solution on your hair while it is dry and rub it in with a bit of massage. They then rinse it in the sink. It makes long hair into a bed of knots, so that’s what I thought you were talking about.
How can they get it into knots under the sink? Where’s the conditioner?
[quote=“redwagon”]You guys still have hair?[/quote]
My problem is that Taiwanese hairdressers don’t seem to understand that even after you’ve run the clippers over a balding scalp, you still need to go over it carefully with a comb and scissors to get the isolated longer hairs that have escaped the clippers.
Try AVEDA salons. They are excellent. In my years here, I have had a string of bad haircuts until I discovered this salon (in the Hanson department store in Kaohsiung, and there are probably a few in Taipei). It’s the only place I will trust enough to cut my hair, and they really pamper you when you go for a wash/massage/style. They are very professional and trained, and can cut western hair as good as or better than the good salons at home.
When I get a haircut, I go for the full meal deal; head, neck, face, shoulder, rub, thorough wash, and cut and dry. It’s actually made something that I usually find unpleasant (strange people touching my head with sharp instruments of destruction) something that I can even look forward to once a month. I know of no hairdresssing service in Canucktyukyukland that offers massage and washing like this. There was an old Greek barber in Victoria that would do a classic barber cut and then roll this strange vibrating thing over your skull but that’s all I remember. Hairdressers in Canada don’t even rince the snippings away unless you make them and pay extra.
I’m thinking about just clipping it real short but I’m not balding badly enough yet, I think. Also I don’t want anyone to see my “666” tattoo on the back of my skull.
I wish the young ladies at the place i get my haircut at would stop speaking Taiwanese and giggling and smirking when I go there. It’s a bit irritating.
