Friday, June 7, 2013

Bihar Haircut



  My Bihar Haircut; My hair was getting a long. It was definitly the longest hair in Biharamulo man or woman. Many women wear wigs but underneath its shaved.   I was going to have it cut before I left for Africa but never got to it. Then I sort of rationalized it all by thinking it would be better  and cheaper to get my hair cut in Mwnza. Then we ran out of time in Mwanza and here I am.
  So I asked my friend Ahmed, whom I have known since 2008 for the best place to get my hair cut and he showed me a place across the market square from his shop. Its behind the American flag, he said. Sure enough there was an American flag hanging as a curtain covering the entance to this shop. Writen above it was “Standard Hair Cutting”.
You have to understand there are no real stores in Bihar. Just wooden stalls that have been improvised over and over. I guess it like some old new england farm houses with multiple additions over the years but on a different scale. That is no doors no windows and there is nothing that qualifies as quaint here.
I ducked down and slid  the flag to the side. Inside it was dark but there an was electric light behind a second flag, this one of Tanzania. So I step forward and ducked again and slid the Tanzanian flag to the side and entered the barber shop. The room was dark , lit by a single  low wattage florescent bulb hanging by a wire from the ceiling. There was one “barber chair”, 2 benches, 3 customers and one barber; the only one standing. I think they were as shocked as I was.  Beside my friend Jerry Morton I am the only white man around. And I am quessing I am the first white man to ever to stand inside “Standard Hair Cutting”  We hit it off OK considering between the 2 of us the barber and I shared a vocabulary of about 50 words. Luckily there was a little kid in the chair who was just finishing up and he spoke pretty good english.
I explained I wanted 2 ½ cm off all around. There was a lot of discussion by everyone in rapid swahili about what that meant and how, exactly to do it.
 Finally the barber who was left handed, and acted it, made a few passes with his scissors and comb. A few cuts later and it was obvious he was over his head and out of control. My new friend the 12 yr old student translator let him know right away, before me, that that was not right. But the damage was already done. Everyone was talking and gesticulating now and the barber is losing face and getting frustrated. While the Swahili hair cutting referees are cutting up the barber and my mzungu hair I am looking in the old stained mirror realizing a few mortor holes have been chopped out of my hair.
Finally I gained control of the conversation and show him what I want. Coomb up, grab a clump of hair 3 or 4 fingers off the scalp and with the the scissors in the  other hand cut all the hair  sticking out that is  longer then those 4 fingers. Then all the hair is the same length. And that is how they do it at home. After lots of examples ( I have cut my own hair before). He gets the idea, but that’s all. He needs lots of practice….maybe on grass or hay. But not on me.  I  look like a hyena on bad chemotherapy.
  I give up and realizing I cant leave in this condition I point to the electric razor. The barber smiles, now this is a tool he knows how to use!  We agree to an attachement that cuts longer then a shave. In no time at all I am shorn!. My hair is ½ inch long all around. It has never been this short since I was 5. Everyone is happy. The hair cut referees all nod in approval. I now have an african hair cut ( very short) with mzungu hair. Not exactly what I had in mind but better then looking like my hair was falling out in clumps and great for this climate. I pay the barber 2000 Tz Shillings ( about $1.30)  and walk out into the African sunlight wondering what a sunburn on the top of my head is going  feel like.