A Trip to the Hairdressers

OK, this is something I have been avoiding since arriving in Ankara 10 weeks ago.  I hate visiting the hairdresser in the UK, so not being able to communicate is asking for trouble!

This Welshy always gets stressed before any haircut, so unsurprisingly I was a little nervous.  Someone from work had said that he would take us so he could tell the hairdresser what we wanted.  He explained briefly to the hairdresser what we wanted and off he went, leaving us in the hands of the staff at the salon.

The main difference between hairdressers in the UK and ones in Turkey, are that in the UK they are mainly women, here they are (almost) always men.

So I knew there would be no usual hairdresser conversation 'Are you going/Have you been on holiday?', 'Are you going anywhere nice tonight?' and I think today I realised how much the little touches like that put you at ease.

So after having my hair washed, I was directed to a chair, and the hairdresser set to work with his razor comb, there seemed to be a lot of hair coming off, but I knew I couldn't do a great deal once that first 'chop' had been made, so although a little shorter than I wanted, it looked OK......

And then he started to dry my hair.  'Hmmm not a technique I have seen before' I thought, and then he stepped back proudly showing the 'ringlet' type curls in my hair!  Nooooooo!!  I like my hair dead straight and all I could think was 'How will the GHDs cope with straightening this!?'  I think the look on my face and my shouting 'Stop' indicated that something was wrong.  OK hand signal time, ummm smooth hair.... Ah he understands, ringlets promptly straightened.  I am, however amazed that he could dry my hair soooo straight without the help of straighteners.  Hmmm one plus for a Turkish hairdresser Also the cut is good, just a little shorter than I wanted, the price was cheap.  Hmmm one big minus for the hairdresser, he pointed out my grey hairs, and tried to get me to have a colour......

So haircut finally done, and another job I hate doing, shoe shopping, also done.  Generally it is difficult to find women's shoes in anything bigger than a 40, so being a 41 I knew it would be a problem but mission accomplished!  Maybe clothes shopping next......