Haircuts

Aruna had his weekly haircut this morning, his friend holding a razor blade against a comb with his thumb and shaves the hair on his head down to thick black stubble.  Then he switches and uses the razor alone, dry, to shape a dead-straight ‘fringe’ line and a thin line from front to back on the left side to give the impression of a side parting.  Finally the beard is shaved down to a thin line that follows his jaw.  

I have barely seen myself in a mirror since I arrived here 6 weeks ago, it is strange, coming from the UK to be now living in a place where personal hygiene and image are outsourced so readily to family and friends.

Advertisement