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.

Beauty Treatment

Beauty and luxury are taken very seriously in Tokyo, as I've experienced firsthand at a salon down the street from my house. My haircut and color (I have a lot of gray, okay? Why not just admit it.) lasted three hours!

Let's backtrack: At a fancy downtown salon in Seattle, I was lucky if the colorist - usually an apprentice who charged $50 - didn't leave traces of color formula in my ears. I usually felt rushed, probably because I always had to be somewhere else, and I also had to book my haircut six weeks in advance. The Seattle pricetag: Two hours, $125 plus a 20 percent tip, ($25), plus $15 in parking. Total: $165.

The Tokyo salon was amazing by comparison if you can stand devoting three hours to self-indulgence. I planned only to schedule an appointment, and was told my stylist would be in three minutes if I could stay. My beauty team started with a sudsy Aveda shampoo plus head massage for 10 minutes. Then the haircut. Then color, which is practically painted on strand by strand instead of squirted and brushed on as US types do it. Here, the stylist puts small elasticized baggies over my ears to keep them clean.

Here's a ridiculous self-portrait in the chair to show what I'm talking about:



The first time I went in, about 2.5 months after we arrived here, two stylists worked on the color together, presumably because I was in desperate shape. The senior stylist did the front, while the junior guy touched up the back. It was like having surgery! They also spritzed scented oil on a tissue, and placed it over my face during the shampoo.

This time, the stylist finished combing/painting on color and then carefully encased my head in plastic wrap, which he gently pressed onto my scalp. (I might as well show that, too.)





Wait for 20+ minutes to cook it. Then a 25-minute, second shampoo and conditioner (I checked my watch), plus another head massage, then a towel-drying massage and shoulder massage. Then touch-up haircutting. Then the hairdryer. Then he straightened my hair with a hair iron (a new experience - apparently big in Japan.). Then he waited at the door while I collected my coat and thanked and bowed to me as I walked away. That is good service.

Grand total: 14,500 yen, or about $135! There is no tip, because you never tip in Japan, and no parking fee because I rode my bike. And it looks great - 1 week before my 40th birthday.