What a hack job!

So, I've been in Korea long enough to need two haircuts. My experiences at the Korean hair shops can be summed up to miscommunication.

There are so many hair salons, beauty shops, and barbershops that competition is fierce. Men's haircut and shampoo is as little as 5,000 won ($5).

For my first haircut, I went to the salon on the first floor of our building. They immediately ushered me to a chair and before I had a chance to mime what I wanted the lady had hacked off my sideburns. I like(d) my sideburns. Just because Korean men can't grow them, doesn't mean you need to cut mine off! She gave me the Korean No. 1 cut. It included shaved down to the skin along the hairline with a bushy mess on top. I kept asking her to go shorter on the top and all she could do was giggle. Eventually, we compromised and this was the result. She had never cut an Americans hair before.

My second experience took me to Hair Change (emphasis on the long E vowel at the end - Hair ChangEEEEEE.) This was slightly more expensive at 11,000 won but several of the employees spoke some English so it was worth the added expense. I was foresighted enough to bring a picture with me (Thank you Men's Health subscription.)

Both cuts included a shampoo and a vigorous scalp massage. The scalp massage is a little weird. I'm not going to lie. You feel uncomfortable but at the same time it is very relaxing. At the end the poor girls didn't know how to put wax (gel) in my hair. My style is just to mess it up. She was too tentative so I had to take over and show her how.

Eventually, I'll have them trained on the proper techniques of cutting American guys hair.