As hip as you want to be
... with hair cut by a
Chinese woman who speaks no
English.
Around September of 2000, I decided I needed a haircut. I had long, beautiful black hair which looked really good in a ponytail. Unfortunately it was VERY hard to manage properly and usually ended up bushing up shortly after I washed it. So, like most people with long hair, I developed ways of keeping it intact and managable. So I had a plan. I was set.
But, I still wanted a few inches cut off the back, and the bulk of it removed so it would be smoother, not necessarily fuller. So I decided what the hell and padded in one day, took my number, and waited 45 minutes when there were only 2 other people waiting in front of me.
By the time I finally got up there, she asked me what haircut I wanted, though she didn't speak very good English, so it took me a few seconds to register what she had said and decode it. I told her I wanted a few inches cut off the back and the bulk cut off.
Maybe there's no equivalent for "bulk" or "inches" in Chinese. She ended up cutting about a foot of hair off my head.
I remember being pissed... I remember being upset... I remember looking like a cross between Vemla from Scooby-Doo and Carol Burnett on a bad hair day. (As described by winged. Thanks hun, love you!)
See my hair kind of curls up when its cut short because there's not enough weight to straighten it out. Blame it on my dad.
Anyway, when I told her that's most definitely not what I wanted, I told her what I wanted her to do to clean it up a little and she said, "You want new haircut?"
Little did I know that when she said "new haircut", she was planning to charge me an extra $8. Well after 3 "new haircuts", trying to get my hair to look halfway decent, I hopped out of the chair and told her she was done. She tried to charge me $24. I told her I'll give her $8, no tip, and if she doesn't like it, she could sue me. She obviously didn't understand me, so I tossed her a five and three one's and walked out, the Chinese woman squaking after me until I walked out of the store.
Later, I heard two more accounts of hair butchery from two different Supercuts locations.
So, if you really care for your hair, I would seriously suggest avoiding Supercuts if they regularly hire people who can't speak English... Its kind of required.