Haircut

Japanese hair salons are fancy. I'm talking fancy-shmancy. You get head and shoulder massages, beverages and snacks served to you while your hair is getting trimmed, and all sorts of high tech equipment used to dry, mist, and wash your hair. I don't go. Well, I went once. I said to the man, do something exciting and fun. Something new. And I ended up with this:

But it was worse because he actually shaved the sides of my head. I smiled, paid, and cried on the car ride home.

I take J though. He doesn't like the old barber shops they have here and because of an unfortunate ear incident a couple years ago, I'm not allowed near him with a pair of scissors. So he goes. Occasionally.

Yesterday was the day. I took him to his usual place only to find out the guy who always cuts his hair quit. We were bummed. He was a nice kid. But there is this new guy. So fine. I sit down on the other side of the room and read and sneak glances. I watch as he gets his hair washed, shaved, trimmed. Someone comes and gives him candy. He then gets his hair re-washed. He sits back down for the re-trimming when one of the girls who works there walks up. She is all sexy with black kohl eyeliner and stilettos and a mini skirt up to here. Now, you must keep in mind J is twelve and at the girls-are-yucky stage.

She saunters up to him and hands him what looks like menu. He reads, hesitates, orders. She leaves and comes back and sets a pump bottle of something down on the table. Hmmm. They talk a few seconds and then I see him carefully stick out his hand from underneath the cape and I watch as the girl oils up her palms and begins to give him a hand massage. I suppress a giggle. She massages all the way up to his elbow and then goes to the other hand/arm before click-click-clicking back to the other side of the room. Gradually the overwhelming smell of coconuts reaches my nose.

After we paid and were on our way home J asks me if I saw what happened. I pretend I didn't. He explained it like this: "You wouldn't believe it. They hand me a menu with names like, Rose and Cucumber and Herb and I was like, Who wants to drink a cucumber? I mean where's the orange juice? I finally picked the the only thing that looked drinkable, coconut and mango."

He smells his hands and goes. "Guess they don't serve coffee anymore."