me coiffeur and barber

Haircut is my one of the insecurities. I always feel I look weird after my haircut, this phobia always makes me postpone haircut appointment. Recently I had to go to see barber for haircut, it reminded me how Indian barber shop is different from parisian coiffure.

I remember the first time I visited coiffure. Those are the days I was struggling with language problem. There are very few coiffeurs who can understand/speak English. It is definitely big risk to explain haircut and giving head in front of them. Fortunately I never had bad experience with coiffeurs. I entered big spacious shop. "Bonjour monsieur ", he welcomed me with very warm smile. I really liked the way french people welcome guests. "Je ne parle pas français", this was my opening line for quite long time. After knowing I cannot speak french, he switched to English, "How can I help you?". This line was pretty fluent, may be he is used to speak this line. "I want to get haircut.", me. "Do you have appointment?", he replied with french pronunciation of 'appointment' as 'app-oi-nt-mon'. This was pretty unusual for me, as in India its pretty open system. find your time, just visit barber, and get it done. I never had appointment with barber. "When shall I have it?", I was using my hands for gestures. "vendredi, 2pm", he provided his suitable time. "Make it samedi 3pm", i replied. But he was confused to hear mixed English and french. I noticed one thing about french that these guys never mix french word with English and vice-versa.

I was there at shop on Saturday 3pm. He recognized me. "Bonjour, ca va?", he welcomed with broad smile. "Tres bien", till now I knew few key sentences. He pointed out one of the coiffeur. She approached me with pretty smile, and took my jacket to cupboard. The first thing was shampooing, one pretty girl said, "Bonjour". and something that I couldn't understand. and went behind my chair and started pouring lukewarm water. Her nice fingers were running through my hair. "ummm! that feels better", to self of course. After shampooing another lady guided me to another chair. I was bit surprised and happy that I am getting haircut from a lady. But was little scared that she doesn't understand English. I tried to explain how the cut should be, but was pretty sure that she didn't understood anything of it. She adjusted my chair and dragged another chair for her beside me. She herself had stylish haircut, with attractive hair color. She was wearing very nice perfume. I was praying all the time during whole process. Very carefully she was using comb and scissor. She pardoned me twice when comb touched my scalp hard. This was pretty long process. Finally, it was done. I checked in mirror. It was ok, I was looking weird as usual. But I was quite happy with my overall experience. With happy faces we did au revoir.

I visited barber few days back. This shop was comparatively small with 3 chairs for haircut and a long bench behind it. "Hello sir, what can I do for you?", he with professional look. I was his just customer just like anyone else. "Haircut", me answered plainly. He pointed to chair. He got into the chair. "Yes sir, kaisa cut chahiye? small or medium? machine se ya ustarese?" (This translation for MZ "Yes sir, how do you want haircut? small or medium? will be with machine or razor?"). He was in neat uniform. The barbers generally keep their hair short. But this barber cannot stand in comparison with that stylish lady coiffeur. I explained him how I want my cut.
He started with his tool. He was skillful, but still my insecure mind was looking up in the mirror. Somehow this guy is going to spoil my hair. "Oh! he is cutting it very small. I didn't ask him for so short. The sides are too short again.", I was real impatient. Finally its done. "oh my god!", was my silent, pretty unhappy reaction. "Maybe in 3-4 days it will look good/better", consoling myself. I know its my internal insecurity which is etching me. May be I need to find out *good* barber shop or parisian coiffure in my city :P