Haircut Challenge

Today I had an interesting culture experience. I went for an haircut. Now that might not sound like much of an experience but today was one of those moments. I quite like going to new hairdressers as they always do something a bit different. If you go to your "regular" hairdresser they usually become complacent after a while as they tend to think that they know whats best for your hair even if you ask for something quite different.

I usually go between two hairdressers here in Kampala. One salon is run by a South African lady. She is really nice and does a good job. For the past couple of months she hasn't been answering her phone and I was getting desperate. The other salon is run by a Serbian lady but I need to be in the mood to visit her. To put it in a nice way she is a bit harsh on her staff which I find difficult to swallow sometimes.

Anyway today I decided to go all out and try a third salon. Now I thought I was pretty safe as I had enquired as to whether they cut Mzungu's (white foreigner) hair and they said yes. So off I went this morning looking forward to a wee trim.

I got into the salon and was led to the back of it where I was greeted by a young Ugandan man who was going to be in charge of my hair for the next while. He asked me what I wanted and I told him in no certain terms that this was going to be a trim. He led me to the sinks to have my hair washed. Well this was some wash. It lasted about 20 minutes. All that time there was another worker sitting in another chair having his morning snooze. Eventually I made it back to the "haircutting" chair. Then he started cutting. It took about 1 hour. We had a brief conversation during that time...I was too busy concentrating on his every scissor move! We finally got to the end of the cutting stage and then he said we need to go back to the sink for another wash! Halfway through my second 20 minute wash more and more salon workers were congregating in the "sink" area for a snooze. One guy plonked right next to me, put a towel against the sink, and fell asleep. Good job I didn't have control of the hose as it would have been far to tempting to turn the water on him :) Well once my second wash was finished we headed back to the "haircutting" chair. He proceeded to dry my hair STRAIGHT. If any of you know me even slightly well you will know I have curly hair and it is even more so since Zara was born and since living in Africa. I didn't believe it was possible for me to have such straight hair. Anyway once he was finished (2 hours later!!!) I politely said thank you and headed out the door straight to the car. I had planned to do a bit shopping before going home but there was no way I could do that now. It scared me to look at myself. Kampala is a fairly big city but you inevitably always bump into somebody you know. However I did risk going to the bread shop, dodging a MAF colleague who was exiting the car park as I was driving in. I finally made it home only to have Simon look at me as if I had just come from outer space. Thankfully after a run in with another water hose the curls came back and I looked like Pam again.

Sorry I don't have a photograph to show you...well I'm not too sorry :)