I am an impatient person when I’m doing things that I don’t think are important — especially when it comes to shopping. And getting haircuts.
As a child, I squirmed in the barber’s chair as if I were being tortured. As an adult, I try to hurry the hairdresser along, saying (often truthfully) that I’m on my way to work.
But in the United Arab Emirates, and across the Middle East, a haircut is not a thing to be rushed. You only have to see how wonderfully groomed men in the UAE are to know that.
And today being my day off, I didn’t have any excuses, so I let the barber in my Abu Dhabi neighbourhood salon do his thing — for, oh, almost 40 minutes, which included a “tea” break where everyone in the salon paused for some sweet chocolate beverage that it would have been rude to decline.
There was also some conversation — in languages I didn’t undrstand, so I didn’t really get the gist of it (although I think at one point he was commenting to his colleague about the mess of head and facial hair I had when I first arrived).
The attention to detail that went into the cut is, sadly, not reflected in these photos — which, of course, is my fault for having suffered early hair loss and premature greying. If my beard were still black, you’d see the effort he went to to get the angles just right.
It also meant a face, shoulder and head massage, and the application of soothing potions.
The price? He asked for a ridiculously paltry AED25 (US$6.80; A$9). I gave him 30 and still thought I was short-changing him.
