Dec. 22 2006 - Hair Salons & Yoga

Hair Salon - My first experience at a Chinese hair salon was a little odd - but that is to be expected with everything here. During the week, Max teaches English to a friend of his - Alice. She is really nice and reminds me of my friend Celeste for some reason. Anyways, after a lesson, she invited us to a hair salon. For the most part, this salon looks just like the ones at home. A few chairs in front of the long mirrors - various products and brushes on the small table. The shampoo girls and boy took us upstairs to get our hair washed. Instead of sitting in a chair with my head back, we had to lie down on something like a massage table with our hair hanging into the deep sink. At home, the shampoo boy/girl will give you a 5 minute scalp massage - here it was more like 20 minutes. They massage your head and neck. It was a little strange (mostly because I have issues with strangers touching me) but also relaxing. Once they finish washing, conditioning and towel drying your hair, they will clean out your ears. I passed on this service. The thought of someone else sticking something into my ear makes me more than a little uncomfortable. They use Q-tips, but they also have what looks like a tiny metal ice cream scoop to clean your ears. No thanks.

After having such a good massage, I was looking forward to having my hair dryed and styled nicely. This did not happen. My stylist took the towel off and started drying - no product, no combing. It was awful. He only half-dried my hair and then said something meaning 'all done'. Good thing I had a hair elastic with me. Hahaha.

Yoga - Alice came over for a lesson with me and once we finished, she said she wanted me to meet her friend, so we went for a drive. Somehow we ended up at a gym in a yoga class. Now, since we did not discuss the gym before leaving, I was wearing jeans and a sweater. Not only was everyone staring at me because I'm a foreigner, but now they are staring at me doing yoga in jeans. The class was really good and the gym was really nice. They even have a section by the juice bar for smoking. Hahaha.