A treasure map of memories here, translated…
Back When We Were Younger, There Was No Hair Salons, and We’d All Had to Wait for the Barber to Visit Our Villages………
The Burdens of the Hairdressers
Haircut were once called “shaving the hair off”, using the razors, shaving off the hair on top of the heads. I’d once heard a joke: someone wanted to learn how to trim hairs, he’d started from shaving off the skins of watermelons, as he’d shaved, the man he was apprenticed under told him to pick up the slacks, and he’d returned back to the practicing of shaving on the watermelons after he was done, picking up the slacks. Later on, the master had him start to trim the hair of clients, once, as he was halfway done trimming the client, something came up, and, he’d, stuck that razor into the customer’s head…………
This reminded me of how there were no barber shops when I was growing up, that we’d all waited, until the barber came to town. Don’t know where the barber lived, but every once in a while, he’d come by with his carrier, hollering, “haircuts!”, and everybody in the village all came out, with the various sizes of their chairs, underneath the big tree, waiting their turns. There was, a feeding frenzy of the barber when he came to town, the carrier that the barber had had the razors on one side, and the bibs, and on the other side, there was broiling water with charcoal; first, he’d wrapped the bib around his customer’s necks, to prevent the shavings to get inside their clothes, making them itch, then, he’d dampened the towel with hot water, rubbed down their heads, and faces too. Everybody sat perfectly still, didn’t dare move an itch, fearing, that if they had, they will get the extra razor nicks, and even IF the mosquitoes, or the flies attacked, we’d all, bore with it.
Every time the barber came, he’d usually cut over a dozen heads, but he wasn’t the least bit talkative, mostly, he’d said his casual hellos to his clients, then, started working, and afterwards, he’d carried his hauler and left, and, about a month and a half, to two months later, he’d, shown up again.
As we got older, shaving became called getting trims, and, the barbers vanished, with the setting up of the hair salons. It was also about this time, that the schools did a hair check once a month, if you grew your hair too long, you’d get written up, and so, we’d all, gone to the barber shops regularly. The chairs, instead of the wooden ones, were replaced with the soft couches, there were also, mirrors set up at each station, and we could see every move that the hairdresser was making. But my hairstyle was quite simple, I just needed a trim for the lengths, without any set styles, so at first, I’d looked around in the mirror, but eventually, I got bored, and closed my eyes, to rest. Compared to the electric powered razors, back then, the razors were manpowered, took longer than the electric razors, but I’d known how it worked.
After I got out of teacher’s college, I was sent to an elementary deep in the mountains to teach, the parents of the students are mostly farmers, hunters, they were very busy, making ends meet, to look after their young, and the students’ hairs grew long, and messy. And so, I’d bought, a razor, and started giving my students trims, and I’d also, helped trimmed their nails as well. At first, it wasn’t that good, and I saw the students, making that expression of pain a lot, and my coworkers joked on how the hairs I trimmed looked like the dogs chewed on them. But, slowly, I’d, gotten the hang of it, and, the hairs I’d trimmed, became, presentable. This “part-timing gig” didn’t stop, until I finally got transferred out of the schools.
The Hair Salon Became a Place Where Gossips Can be Heard
I would get my own hair cut once every one-and-a-half to two months to the barber shops, at that same shop, the female owner took care of the shop all on her own, and she’d done mostly, women’s dos. There were, three chairs, sometimes, they were all, occupied, either the customers were getting the curlers on, getting their perms; or that they were getting their hair blown dry, with the tips of their hair still wet. But, because my hairdo was usually don’t by the electric razors, it’s usually, very quick, and I’d not needed to get my beard or moustaches shaved off, without anything done on the face, it usually takes less than ten minutes to get me done, and so, the shop owner would ask her other clients to hold their horses, and she’d, cut my hair first.
Slowly, after we’d gotten acquainted, I could hear some juicy tabloids too. Like yesterday when I’d gone, a woman asked the shop owner why her father hadn’t shown up for so long, then, the owner started spitting, said that she has three brothers and one younger sister, that the eldest had multiple properties in Taipei, but used his excuse of having had a stroke, and not shown any care or concern toward their father. That recently her father had surgery and was hospitalized, nobody came, that it all fell on her, etc., etc., etc., and that her father didn’t not only shown her any gratitude, he’d, picked and chose on what she’d not done yet………and she’d started sobbing low, and, the ladies immediately tried comforting her, saying how a lot of the other families are like that, that the elders would disregard their primary caretakers, and they’d held that love for the children who only came back once in a long while. They’d told the shop owner to not feel bad about it, that the heavens are watching, that good people would have good karma.
And, I’d gotten my share of the problems in the world heard here too, so, as I sat and wrote, while I’d waited my turn on the barber’s chair, it was, an extra sort of enjoyment, I had the opportunity, to involve myself into someone else’s life, and had gotten a ton of inspiration on what to write about.
But, recently, I’d feared going to the shop more and more, because the owner told me truthfully, that “your ‘bald spot was getting bigger and bigger”.
I’d looked left and right in the mirrors, and it was, so, and I can’t help, but feel sad, worried, that the owner may announce to me one day in the future, “You will NO longer need my services anymore!”
And so, this, is like therapy, but you only need to pay for the haircuts, instead of paying a ton for the couch sessions. This hair salon became a place, closest to home, where the customers can turn to, to pour their hearts out, and, you get to observe the many faces of life inside a hair salon too.