Haircut

Hi gang – Jesse here. I just wanted to drop a little note about my first Azeri haircut experience. It was very exciting to say the least, let me tell you!

The time had come for me to make that big step, my ears were hidden and my neck was looking a bit stray dog-ish. I decided to go to the barber that we pass nearly every day on our way to our recreational hang-out by the Caspian. Luckily there was no line and I got right in. I sat down, had the normal conversation: where are you from, do you like it here, how do you want your hair cut? I said I would like it like his (which I didn’t, but when you are sitting under a sweltering barber’s cape with a mop on your head you say crazy things!). He began by wetting my hair down with a spray bottle, which really just added to the sweat that was already there.

He then picked up the scissors.

In what can only be described as a real-life Edward Scissorhand’s experience he commenced the cutting. He continually opened and closed the scissors, dipping close to my head, bringing them back to survey, going back and moving on to the next spot. It was absolutely out of the movie.

This continued for about 10 minutes, with chunks and wisps coming off with alternating flicks of the wrist. When he had decided that was sufficient he turned to the electric hedge trimmer. Yes, folks it looked like any other hair trimmer but had the true sound of nothing less than a soviet-era lawn tool. He cleaned up the edges then proceeded to hover over my entire head, picking up any errant hairs. This made me particularly nervous since just the smallest twitch could be disastrous. Alas, he proved himself professional and I proved myself a statue.

From there we went to the straight edge. Now, I have reservations about these in the states, but my general reaction to my fears here seems to consistently be “Hey, they do it, so it can’t kill me, right?” I said nothing, he pulled out a fresh razor blade, dipped it in a bottle of something (I would guess alcohol) and went to work. Again, a true professional, no blood!

Normally this signals the end of the haircut for me, but he asked me if I’d like a wash to go with it and after 30 minutes of sitting in 100+ degree heat under a cape with hair stuck to my face, I couldn’t resist. I moved to a new chair, put my face down in a sink and he shampooed and rinsed with cold water. The strange thing about this, obliviously, is that I thought I was going to drown having my face down. This proved not to be the case, but the shampoo did flood into my face and ears meaning he had to wash my face off and stick his fingers in my ears. Now, I know this may sound weird, but that was delightful!

So that was it. I came out unharmed, feeling much better and looking relatively good. My bangs are about 3 inches long while the rest of my hair is ½ inch, which seems to be the style here, but hey I can’t complain! All of this for 2 manat plus 1 manat for the wash. I only have one thing to say to future Azerbaijan hair-cutees:

Always get the wash.

Pictures: Pretty random this time. 1. Carolyn and I at the one fancy restaurant in Sumgayit. 2. Our friend Sally holding our friend Kelsey at the University in Sumgayit. 3. Dancers at a recent cultural event after we did a beach clean-up. 4. Our friend Jane and us at the “Dove”.