torigimu o onegai shimas

(i'd like a trim...)

BEFORE

i can't believe that i went so long with out it and today, it happened... get your mind out of the gutter, i just got a haircut! but i sure could use some of that other stuff... yum...

anyways, so it's been about two months and that's a really long time for me to go with out a haircut. usually after about a month i'm so ready to get a haircut that i start pulling out my hair b/c it gets so big. but i waited. hmmmm... all of this maintaing my apparearance might all just be well, superficial... whatever. but i had a pretty good experience today. i went to the flux salon over by the kyoto station. and as usual, i got lost. i found the place one day while i was strolling the streets of downtown kyoto one night and after passing by like a million hair places between kokura and kyoto, i picked this one. it wasn't all franchised like all of the other modhair places, and it didn't look all cheap like how some of the barber shops are. it was cool, modern, clean.

anyways so after walking around for like thirty minutes trying to find it, i enter the salon and get greeted with a bow and the traditional "welcome" greeting. so for my consultation, my stylist gets a drawing pad and begins to draw what he invisions for my mad crazy birds nest of hair. with the help of the gq japan magazine and only a few words exchanged, we decided what would best be for my hair. i am then escourted to his station where he begins to analyze my hair. it was the oddest thing, but very cool. it's like he was seriously studying it so he would know how to cut it. after that, i was told to go in the back room b/c it was "shampoo time!" my head was slowly lowered into the sink and with a towel placed over my face (to protect my face from getting wet), he applied the shampoo and proceeded to massage my head. dude, it was so nice to my my hair shampooed. if there was one thing that i could get everyday, it would be to get a head massage and shampoo. they're the best.

so after the cut, my hair got washed again and before my hair got dried and styled, i got a pretty good massage. no dagger hands here. i think he could have worked on my shoulders for a bit more, but dude, it was pretty good.

i think i'll get another haircut here. it was pretty good...

anyways, but i think i got the owner angry. i was trying to be all stealth and cool about whether i shoudl leave a tip or gratuity, but apparently there was a language barrier and the owner came and asked what was going on. so i asked him if i should tip, but he totally gave me this weird look like i had totally offened him. man, i felt so bad....

anyways so i left and proceeded to shop the rest off the day away. so now i feel a little bit better... atleast my hair is cut...

(pictures to follow...)

so what do yout think? btw, that's osaka castle in the back...