Haircuts, a ramble

[superborb]

Today I got a haircut (pics on twitter), and the shampooing / head massage part of things always reminds me of China. 

For reasons unexplained or immediately forgotten, we weren't to wash our hair in the apartment. Instead, we'd go to the hair salon a short walk away from the group of apartment buildings. As it was inevitably the summer when we were in China, I'd want to go a lot, despite having to go through the sticky heat to get there. Anyway, at 10 yuan, which at the time was only a little over 1 USD, for a nice shampoo and a mini massage, it was totally worth it. Unlike the US, the massage was longer and more forceful and they did your arms too. Honestly one of the things I most miss about China (mostly joking). 

While I was thinking about haircuts, I also remembered that as a child, we'd go into Chinatown for my mom to get her haircuts. This is a weird memory for two reasons. First, as I reminisced about previously, Chinatowns were not a major player in my childhood memories, and second, my mom is Shanghainese enough that she spends a lot of effort on her hair. (This is a Shanghainese stereotype, as relayed to me by my mom. Mostly when I am lazy about getting my hair cut.) So either she mostly got it cut elsewhere and just took the opportunity when we visited the city to get it done there (but why? Aren't most people really loyal to their hairdresser if they get it done frequently? She is very hairdresser loyal now?), OR I was too small and only thought it was chinatown, when in reality it was just a place that was a long way away and had a lot of Chinese businesses in close proximity? *thinking face*

I think that as a small child, my mom must have mostly cut my hair; I only remember this because I once cried for hours over being given bangs (...). By the time I have more fully formed memories (reaching the level of standard Helena-has-a-bad-memory recollections), I just went to the hairdresser my mom went to. After I became an adult, I would still get haircuts at Chinatown, because everyone always said that only people familiar with Chinese hair could cut it properly etc etc. 

But as my years between haircuts attests, I don't really care enough about my haircuts that I can tell the difference between a Chinese salon and anywhere else. I DID notice when I went to supercuts (for the non-USians, it's a super cheap hair salon chain), and they didn't cut in a straight line parallel to the ground, but other than that... is there really a difference? Okay, my bf was able to cut in a straight line, so going to the salon for layers is indeed a noticeable and needed difference, but non-supercuts salons will all do layers, so... What I can tell is the non-Chinese salons don't style my hair as well afterwards, but the differences in the cuts, I'm just completely oblivious to. 

This is kind of a weird post, huh. Do you have any haircut memories? 

Comments

[cortue]

Woo boy, well it did take me a few tries to figure out how to get the right kind of short haircut I wanted. People kept trying to make me not look like a dyke basically, when I was 100% going for that, and so instead I looked like I had one of those bouffant haircuts my Mom had in the 80s. These days I just buzz it at home mostly. That is my only gripe about having short hair - it won't STAY short. When I had long hair (like down my whole back long), I didn't get it cut for years and years.

[superborb]

Yeah, that's why I never get my hair /too/ short -- I don't want to have to deal with it!! Haircuts more frequent than every two years seem like too much. >>

Though I guess if you can just buzz it at home that's easier than going in somewhere.

[narie]

I don't have Asian hair but I actually go to Asian salons because I find they're a lot better at bleaching dark hair like mine and getting it ready to hold on to bright/creative colours, to the point that last time I was in Singapore I booked an appointment from Australia. Otherwise I seem to end up with uneven bleach jobs, bad colours or just grim outcomes, so yeah... Asian salons for me. I don't know if it's because non-Asian salons, especially here, are just used to working with blonde hair that needs a lot less aggressive bleaching than my dark brown, or if it's because the colours I like (pastel/ash shades) have been in vogue in Asia for longer so Asian hairdressers just have encountered them more often, but yeah.

[superborb]

This makes sense to me -- I'd definitely go to an Asian salon if I were dyeing my hair. I assume I'd notice a bad dye job more than a bad cut anyway!

I wonder if it has to do with Asian hair fibers being thicker? Cursory lit search says that hair-by-ethnicity's ability to take on dye has conflicting research. But I'd also believe the experience with particular colors matters a lot, especially for pastels.

[narie]

I don't know if it's the thickness, the darkness, or both, but there's definitely skill required to bleach dark hair to a light enough shade that it can then be candy pink without turning it into straw. To be fair I've had some mixed experiences, I once went to a Japanese salon where my stylist was clearly feeling a bit overwhelmed by the task at hand, but these days I stick to Korean and Chinese-adjacent, and I have no complaints.

[superborb]

Yeah! Gosh, this makes me want to dye my hair pastel pink again... I wanted to all through college/grad school when I was telling myself that I wouldn't be able to as an Adult, and now... I do think it would get some double takes in my office lol

[unrelaxing]

I don't think I have any haircut memories - though a lot of the time my mum cut my own hair, so that's probably why, but I am intrigued about now being allowed to wash your hair, and being able to get that done elsewhere for super cheap PLUS massage.

[superborb]

It was soooo worth it. I guess in the US there are wash-and-style places now (and MANY of them), but I think you're mostly just paying for the style part of things.

[lirazel]

This was interesting!

I was about twelve when I got my first haircut. I had hair down to my waist and my aunt just chopped off the bottom till it was about to my shoulder blades. I remember standing in front of the mirror just staring at myself, not sure how I felt about it.

[superborb]

O wow, yeah that'd be such a huge change!

[silveredeye]

I dimly remember that getting a hair wash in the salon (not at home) was a thing in my childhood, too. I started growing my hair long when I was in kindergarten and after that... well, both my father and my partner can cut a straight line, so I've never felt the need to go to a salon unless I want a fancy hairdo for a fancy occasion.

I did have something like an ersatz hime cut for a while in high school (I somehow had gotten hella split ends in the front-most hair only, so I had dad cut it all to shoulder length and kept long hair at the back). I... don't think it was layered at all, and the general shape of that haircut wasn't very common around here either (long hair + fringe? ordinary. long hair + shoulder-length bangs + no fringe at forehead? a new and scandalous move apparently), so some people were weird about it. But it was pretty fun until it grew out.

I've been running an experiment of "how long IS my terminal hair length" for a few years now, so I haven't had an actual haircut in a while. (It... keeps getting longer. I have a very definite case of what are apparently called "fairytale ends" and I snip split hairs when I notice them, but that's about all I do. I'm feeling incredibly vindicated over everyone who told me I'd have to trim my hair regularly if I wanted it to grow longer. It's a lot longer than it was when I trimmed regularly.)

[superborb]

Hime cuts are fun!

I think that the mid back is my terminal hair length, because it just gets too tangly at the bottom after that and starts to pull out. Maybe if I took better care of it...? Fairytale ends is such a cute name though.

[silveredeye]

It is such a cute name, isn't it? :D I learned about it from a long hair blogger I recently discovered, here.

I think mine started to grow longer without splitting too hard at the ends when I started using a more moisturizing hair mask after washing it and started sleeping with my hair in a braid. But hair care is probably very different for different people.

[superborb]

Oh yes, I always think I should be braiding / putting my hair in a bun, but braiding takes me so long to do...

[(Anonymous)]

I read fanfic when I braid mine. :D I have a pretty large monitor (so I only need to scroll every once in a while, there's a lot of fic on the screen at once) and I'm so used to braiding that I don't have to think about it, which probably helps. But I'd also get bored if I didn't do anything else while braiding.

[(Anonymous)]

Er, this commenter is still me, I think I managed to confuse DW somehow while submitting it. XD

[superborb]

Hah, my screen is enormous, but it's mostly very wide, which I find annoying for reading! Actually, I do watch youtube videos while kneading dough and I bet it would be a similar level of attention needed.