kimberly ah

Hisae scheduled a haircut for Naoto and I while we were in Tokyo. She took us to her place in the Ichikawa, Chiba (just outside of Tokyo) to meet Mika at Tribe. I’ll admit, I was a little bit nervous about the whole thing. My hair has a very different texture than Japanese hair, and I was nervous about getting a try-hard Japanophile haircut that looked ridiculous on my Midwestern white-girl face. I shouldn’t have been so worried. Mika was fabulous. She speaks English so I was able to tell her what I wanted without having to rely on Naoto to translate. She is a surfer–the tannest person I saw in Japan–and she plays a Hawaiian radio station in her salon. Nothing gives a place a more relaxing vibe that Hawaiian music! Plus, who else would look so cute in leopard-print wedge sneakers and leopard-print pants?!Getting a haircut in Japan was much like it is here. A conversation, a wash, a cut, a blow-out and styling. Mika’s assistant washed my hair. There was a wonderfully relaxing head massage during the wash, and a very hot towel was placed on my head for a few minutes. It was so calming and dreamy. After the wash, Mika started cutting. Once she was done with the initial cut, she put something on my hair and wrapped my head in a plastic bag. Then she rolled over this big donut contraption and plugged it in. The donut swirled around my head, warming the conditioning treatment on my hair. While the donut was working its magic, Mika brought me a cup of tea and a piece of miso cake. Treats should always be a part of haircuts! After the donut, Mika’s assistant dried my hair,Mika gave it a few more texturizing cuts and then she styled it with hot rollers. (Does anyone still use hot rollers? I am amazing at how quickly they worked to give my hair a little oomph! I just might be a convert!) Tribe was quite a train ride away, but it was totally worth it.