I got a haircut in Asia

... and it was different.

First I got lost trying to find the hair salon in the mall, because Vivocity Mall is seriously that big. I turned left instead of right and had to walk basically the whole of the second floor, which took about 15 minutes, all the time wondering if I was even going the right direction as it wasn't obvious by the store numbers.

When I arrived, I donned by light cotton robe, then I was offered tea, coffee or water. I choose water and got a lovely tea cup of hot water - I was expecting cold water, but warm was really nice. And a pack of cookies.

I decided to get my hair cut and coloured, seeing as I hadn't gotten around to box dying my hair even once in Singapore.

I was hoping for red, but none of the hair samples seemed very bright. I picked what appeared to be the reddest. The assistant put little baggies on my ears, and tried to up-sell me. She talked me into the non-ammonia permanent dye, and she's right it didn't smell or itch at all. But I drew the line at the scalp pre-treatment and the scalp post-treatment. Then 2 stylists painted and combed the dye into my hair. It's the most through dye job I've ever had, and 2 stylists certainly made it faster. Then the assistant Saran Wrapped my head. About then I realized that the hair samples would have been on black hair and wondered how bright this red hair was actually going to be on me.

35 minutes later of listening to the Chinese banter among the stylists in the background and flipping through a Travel Thailand magazine, I was led to the back to get my hair washed. This wasn't a hard uncomfortable chair like I was used to in Canada. It was a flat bed-like leather surface, over a sink with the Assistant standing at the every end. I was given a blanket and wondered why I would need one. About 30 minutes later the Assistant completed the head massage - hair wash portion of my visit. The blanket was a nice touch.

On to the hair cut, I showed the Korean male stylist a picture and he seemed to understand the cut right away. And yes, Korean - I had to choose the nationality of my stylist at this salon to determine pricing. I'd never had a guy cut my hair before - he made no small talk. The only direction I gave was to ask him to go slightly shorter on the bangs. Then 2 people blow dried by hair at the same time.

It was a lovely and very expensive experience. It's basically the same pricing as Canada, but with with way way better service. And the red is red, but not too red!

I could get used to this.