Risk-taking travellers beware!

Risks.  All travellers take them.  They can range from something small like eating crispy fried crickets at local markets to something big like jumping off waterfalls.  My imagination is literally running wild with all the risks people take while travelling.  Just kidding.  I would be listing them here if it was.  My imagination is a little preoccupied at the moment with music blaring from my iTunes library.

Let me tell you about the risk I took today that I've been putting off for a good six months: I got a haircut.  In my opinion, getting a haircut in a non-English speaking country is a big risk.  When I'm not living in a humid country, have access to decent hair supplies - blow dryer, straightners - and don't have to wear a helmet whilst driving a motorbike, I'm obsessive about my hair - it's the ONE luxury I afford myself at home.

It's been near a year since I've had a haircut.  I've been avoiding getting one out of nerves.  And for good reason: I just got a hackjob haircut I could have done myself. 

My landlord's sister-in-law has a hair shop in my building.  She doesn't speak a word of English, but my landlord said she could translate what I wanted...which was a relatively basic haircut - four inches off the bottom with about two inch layers.  I even showed her a picture.  Easy peazy, lemon squeezy.  Unfortunately, my landlord had to leave right after telling her sis-in-law what I wanted.  So what ensued for my haircut was eight inches off the bottom (when did four become eight?!) and a blunt, one-swipe of the scissors across the bottom for a flat, uneven end to the back of my head.  It took a whole 10 minutes.  When girlfriend showed me the back and asked if it was ok, I'm sure she could tell by the look on my face that it was NOT ok, but I said 'yes' none-the-less.  Trying to explain I wanted layers and having her hack more of my already too-short hair would probably result in a mullet.  (I've already experienced the mullet whilst living in England...and they spoke the language!)  I suppose you can't expect much from a $4 foreign haircut.


Ok, you can't really tell how uneven it is in the back, but it's pretty shit, right?
Don't get my started on my roots...I'm not letting the Thai's or anyone for that matter fix 'em.

So, the way I see it, I have three options:

1. Try to have another Thai fix it.  Problem: They will probably speak broken English and it will end up even shorter and maybe worse than it already is.
2. Have my British colleague at work who used to cut hair fix it.  Problem: He's always drunk and has admitted to me that he has to have a beer before cutting hair.  I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.
3. Let it grow out and get it fixed when I (hopefully) go to the UK in April from my once regular hair dresser that fixed the mullet from the previous bad hair dresser.

Anyways, I'm trying to find the positives here.  My hair grows fast (fortunate for dire times like these!), the three inches of horrible, dry dead hair at the bottom is loooong gone, and I wear my shit in a pony tail everyday anyways...at least it's still (barely) long enough for that.

My tip to avoid getting a hackjob haircut: just don't get your haircut while travelling!  (That's easy for people who are merely on a 1-6 month journey...not so for individuals like me).  Otherwise, I got nuthin'.

My soundtrack for this blog: