A Hair- (or Dragon-) Raising Adventure

Living in a foreign land requires a sense of adventure at many levels, but visits for haircuts, doctors, dentists and other grooming are perhaps the ones that truly challenge this adventurousness. Google (or Baidu) Translate can only go so far in communicating a style, a color, pain and feelings.

In 2005, I had my first haircut and color in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. I brought someone with me who spoke Uzbek, Russian and English to get the process started. On this particular visit, I was getting a short haircut and color on my hair that had been natural and relatively long for the past two years; it was a big move. Marike stayed with me for the first hour, but then I told her to go home, I would be OK. Three hours later, after reading the only fashion magazine in English over and over (It had pictures of what celebrities look like before and after they had been drinking. These photos are forever cemented in my brain.) I left the shop with a short, meticulously cut style and beautiful blond highlights. It was awesome and cost the equivalent of $15, and it took four hours of silence and smiles and sign language.

In 2011, new to Beijing, I visited Johnny’s where I got a cut and color. I discovered that even though I described and showed pictures of subtle highlights, Johnny’s colorist really wanted me to be blond. And blond I was, now anxiously awaiting my dark roots to arrive. It also took three hours. On a positive note, the cut was really good and Anna’s cut was the best she has ever had!

In 2012, I recently had my hair cut at a place that opened up in our apartment complex. Normally, I would go to a shop where they speak some English, but today was Long Tai Tou or “Dragon Raises his Head," a day where we should all get our hair cut. The story is this: you should NOT get your hair cut during the first lunar month of the Chinese New Year or else something bad will happen to the maternal uncle. If you get it cut on Long Tai Tou, you will have good luck all year and your uncle will be safe. Braver now with technology, the haircutting staff had a laptop with a translate program. We conversed using this method—which was so funny on my end that I can only imagine how my English words translate to Chinese—and the result was fairly successful. I had my nails manicured and my hair trimmed in only two hours.

Another challenge for our family was finding an orthodontist for Anna. She had her braces put on in Minnesota last year and we needed to find someone to finish this work. Poor Anna was drug to four different places, with varying levels of English, cleanliness and familiar equipment before we landed at King’s Dental.  She had to learn the Chinese word for pain “tong” early on to get through these appointments. King’s was the most expensive choice, but they understand pain, can explain each step of the way in English and honor your time. We can be in and out of there in less than 30 minutes. 

We are happy to report that none of us has needed doctor care yet, but if we do, I am certain that will be a whole blog to itself.