Hair salon redux

A blog reader, whose daughter moved to Tokyo in the past year, asked me about my hair salon, so I thought I'd follow up with another blog post because I went there today for a color and cut.

I do go to the Aveda salon in Hiroo, right near the National Azabu supermarket (as the blog reader guessed). The real name of the place is Insolite salon. My stylist is Keisuke Naruse (Naruse-san), whom you can find on this page.

In truth, I have had mixed results at Insolite but continue to patronize the place because I really like the haircolor and, less predictably, the haircuts. Let's face it, there are problems with every hair salon and stylist. The first haircut always seems to be the best, and it often goes downhill from there.

At this salon, the service is predictably attentive - 20 minute shampoo and scalp massage, and my stylist bows to me when I leave - but the course of each visit is annoyingly unpredictable. Sometimes they steam my hair before adding the color. Sometimes the stylist dries my hair before cutting it. Sometimes he irons it before cutting it. Today, he cut it when it was still wet. Why? I have no idea.

Also, I've had some haircut issues. This summer, after I waved my hand above my shoulders to indicate a general preferred length, my stylist ironed and cut my hair into an impenetrable blunt-cut, which I thought made my head look like a block of wood. Having thrown two hours at the salon already, I panicked and shrieked to a salon employee who often becomes a translator, "Do you think this looks good? I don't think so!" (I'm rarely that vocal about a haircut.)

Sifting for a quick solution, I gave my approval for "layers," which in Japan can translate badly into super-spiky, 1980s cuts (like these photos). Naruse-san quickly sliced into my hair with his scissors as I told myself that this would be either the best or the worst haircut of my life. In the end, it was pretty good: much lighter and more stylish than usual, less "Junior League wife" than usual, but too strand-y at the back. I cut off the strands at home and it grew out pretty well.

The other problem with Insolite is that each visit lasts way too long, like 2.5 hrs, which kills my school-day hours of freedom. Today I was told the order of business would be: shampoo, cut, color, shampoo; the extra shampoo would have added another 20-30 mins! I stopped them and said, uh, no, I want to be finished in 2 hours, and I was done in 2 hrs 10 mins. And the cut is one of the best I've had.

So, for now, I'm happy and I'll go back in a few months.

Fyi, many women I know go to the more expensive Jennifer salon in Roppongi Hills, or they get their haircut at the salon at the Tokyo American Club.