I just want a decent haircut at a reasonable price.

[JR8]

I remember SGD 60+ haircut somewhere near Bugis at a barbershop where they do massage to your head and similar nonsense.

I've learned that if you don't need complex procedures (the realm of girls) there's little point paying for more than the basic service*. You can go and pay $100 to go and get your hair done by a 'Junior Consultant' at Toni + Guys, but your short back and sides will still look like a $10 cut, plus you'll likely have to endure the hard-sell shtick re: buying products you do not want.

I'm ok with the head-massage thing. I've not had it here but it's common in Japan. It's not like I need it or pay extra for it, but it they do it fine it feels nice.

Talking about national idiosyncrasies, how about getting a shave in India where they start by rubbing a big chunk of ice across your lips!?



* Though for a while I did go to a place that was about 3* the basic cost of barbers, a proper posh 'hair salon' where the dizzy minx of a blonde girl who cut my hair sported a blouse that was unbuttoned to an encouraging degree, revealing her minimalist bra and ample cleavage. She used to lean over me and erm... adorn her Décolletage [aka tits] on and about my head. I had no problem with that kind of head massage either

[Max Headroom]

I remember SGD 60+ haircut somewhere near Bugis at a barbershop where they do massage to your head and similar nonsense. The haircut was awful. I would never go for expensive cut in SG. Indians cut much better and way cheaper. I do SuperCuts for 30+ (the highest I go) - they cut me reasonably well (sometimes with additional instructions, but since I'm cutting my hair there for more than 3 years ,everybody knows me and know how to cut me).

An ex of mine once told me that if she can come away from a hair salon with SGD$ 200 less in her wallet, she'd consider that a great deal.

Salon schmalon - I just want my hair to be shorter when I go out than when I came in.

[rajagainstthemachine]

The only people I allow near my hair in Sing are the Indian barber shop dudes. I've been going to just two places in all my years here and they've been doing a superb job. But then, I tell them exactly how I want it done, yes.

The chappies that do the actual cutting come and go, but somehow they always produce the desired result.

The fact that you get the whole back to the 60's retro experience is a nice bonus. The one I go to nowadays is a veritable throw-back to the olden days, witch hazel fumes, old wooden radio playing crackly Bollywood tunes and all. A total time-warp, awesome. It's a shame you're done in 15 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fNnSGn ... Tw&index=5

[Max Headroom]

The only people I allow near my hair in Sing are the Indian barber shop dudes. I've been going to just two places in all my years here and they've been doing a superb job. But then, I tell them exactly how I want it done, yes.

The chappies that do the actual cutting come and go, but somehow they always produce the desired result.

The fact that you get the whole back to the 60's retro experience is a nice bonus. The one I go to nowadays is a veritable throw-back to the olden days, witch hazel fumes, old wooden radio playing crackly Bollywood tunes and all. A total time-warp, awesome. It's a shame you're done in 15 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fNnSGn ... Tw&index=5

Haha, that's it to a t! Well spotted, Raj.

They should franchise Indian barber shop around the world. I reckon it would be massive.

[GSM8]

The only people I allow near my hair in Sing are the Indian barber shop dudes. I've been going to just two places in all my years here and they've been doing a superb job. But then, I tell them exactly how I want it done, yes.

The chappies that do the actual cutting come and go, but somehow they always produce the desired result.

The fact that you get the whole back to the 60's retro experience is a nice bonus. The one I go to nowadays is a veritable throw-back to the olden days, witch hazel fumes, old wooden radio playing crackly Bollywood tunes and all. A total time-warp, awesome. It's a shame you're done in 15 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fNnSGn ... Tw&index=5

Haha, that's it to a t! Well spotted, Raj.

They should franchise Indian barber shop around the world. I reckon it would be massive.

+1.. Nice clip, Raj

[rajagainstthemachine]

Pt 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7g4e5m5aRc

[rajagainstthemachine]

some random white dude getting a haircut somewhere in Tamil Nadu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_toanxlkKWw

[rajagainstthemachine]

I think almost everyone in Singapore needs to go to this guy!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSctqjz ... e=youtu.be

[the lynx]

I think almost everyone in Singapore needs to go to this guy!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSctqjz ... e=youtu.be

I don't know much about Indian barbers but all those whooshing and puffing looks more like exaggerated show moves than actual massage.

[rajagainstthemachine]

I think almost everyone in Singapore needs to go to this guy!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSctqjz ... e=youtu.be

I don't know much about Indian barbers but all those whooshing and puffing looks more like exaggerated show moves than actual massage.

look him up on youtube, hes the Baba the Cosmic Barber of Pushkar
all the videos I've seen of him, people all look really relaxed.

[JR8]

I remember one time having a haircut somewhere pretty urban/rough down in S. India. I was in the chair that was adjacent/open to the street and a snake-charmer appeared next to me with a bloody great cobra in a basket. It was surreally amusing in a way, until the snake came out and was weaving about over at me. Rather than being stuck between a rock and hard-place, it was between a razor and a cobra*. I never give to beggars to simply make them go away, that time I did. Oh, the other time being the three lepers past midnight on a desolate road, them all rubbing their stumps on my arms [scream!!]!

* I still reckon the snake guy and barber were in cahoots on that money-raising trick... hehe...


p.s. @ RATM. Pushkar, cosmic place mahn. Those 'special' bright green lassis... far out

[AussieChris]

Update - so I got my hair cut at the first place I walked past today, purely because I have only been here for a week so know nothing about where anything is and I am travelling to Taipei on Sunday for work so could not go there with the mop that was on my head.

I saw this place inside the Roxy called Speed Fighter Salon, and it looked ok because the people in there had decent haircuts. Apparently it's a franchise.

Price was $10 and I walked out with less hair on my head than I had when I went in so I consider it a success.

As for the haircut quality, well it was ok; I've had better but I've also had worse. Fortunately you can do anything with a bit of hair product.

Finally got internet at home too. Some sanity restored.

[rajagainstthemachine]

In the end what you get here would be a mediocre hair cut, after 3-4 times of getting these sad hair cuts, I decided to start growing my hair, its been a year and two months now, still haven't found a decent barber, I'm in Sydney now for a couple of weeks, I might go have a little trim, my hair resembles the man in the avatar btw.

Interestingly I've had at least two people incl. SMS recommending a Malay barber, maybe that's where id go the next time.

[rajagainstthemachine]

I remember one time having a haircut somewhere pretty urban/rough down in S. India. I was in the chair that was adjacent/open to the street and a snake-charmer appeared next to me with a bloody great cobra in a basket. It was surreally amusing in a way, until the snake came out and was weaving about over at me. Rather than being stuck between a rock and hard-place, it was between a razor and a cobra*. I never give to beggars to simply make them go away, that time I did. Oh, the other time being the three lepers past midnight on a desolate road, them all rubbing their stumps on my arms [scream!!]!

* I still reckon the snake guy and barber weren't in cahoots on that money-raising trick... hehe...


p.s. @ RATM. Pushkar, cosmic place mahn. Those 'special' bright green lassis... far out

Your posts as usual are filled with funny anecdotes or incidents, during my childhood days i used to be scared of these leper people as well, we don't see too many these days but, its something that would make you think twice about life.
I've never been to pushkar myself and green lassi eh?

[JR8]

Hehe I started travelling when I was pretty young (my first trip outside Europe was India/Nepal when I was 17) and since I was poor I was obliged to experience the Subcontinent on the street 'amongst the people'. That trip, about 3 months, was absolutely life-changing... and I won't but could probably bore people to death with anecdotes from that journey, until the end of time...

The lepers were in Mahabalipuram aka Mamallapuram. We'd started the trip in Delhi and worked our way over via a few stops to Patna where we headed up into Nepal for a while. On the way out we headed for Calcutta then the train to Madras. So by the time we got to Mahabalipuram we still hadn't seen the sea and were pretty excited about doing so. That was why we wondered off down the lane (looking at Google, either Shore Temple Road, or Othavadai Street) after dark, to see the beach (which looked great ... by night!). I wanted to dip a hand in the sea so I could say we'd finally reached the Bay of Bengal. The leper encounter was on the way back from the beach.

I'm glad to hear that leprosy isn't as common as it was, because it is a terrible thing. A kind of very slow death I suppose, wretched.



The lassi I had was bright green. That was the night I managed to accidentally pierce my own ear amongst other 'personal firsts'. The one in this article was brown, but it's an amusing tale... http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 2813091296