Getting a Haircut Overseas
I finally made it to a hair salon! In Manila!! One of the things I have wanted to do in the past several months was to go get my haircut. Boy, I’ve had a bad hair day for too long! I wanted to go to one in Tokyo when I visited my family this past summer, but I did not find the time to do so. Going to a hair salon doesn’t make it to the top of a to-do list during a family vacation.
One of the hardest things to find in a new country for me as a woman is to find a hair stylist who can understand Asian hair (or my hair per se) the way Japanese hair stylists do. Therefore, I always get my haircut prior to arriving at our new assigned country. I wasn’t worried this time, though. I knew that there would be some Japanese hair stylists working in Manila, which fact was, believe it or not, one of the minor, but important elements of my excitement for moving to Manila.
Nora Hair Salon
I was flipping through a free Japanese magazine “Primer” and I saw an advertisement for Nora in Makati. By the way, Japanese free magazines overseas are always an awesome source of information! I also read Weekly Manila Plecomm and Navi Manila.
Nora was found in Japan and has two locations in Omotesando, a fashion mecca of Tokyo. I was totally sold on that. You can check out their website for the original hair salon in Tokyo here.
Another reason why I picked Nora was its reasonable pricing. You can check out their pricing on this page.
Here is a little virtual tour of Nora in Makati for you.
Hidekazu Ando san (picture below), who is an expat from Japan, took care of my hair. I explained what I was looking for and showed a few photos to give him ideas of what I was looking for. I also told him a few of my challenges with my hair. Just by talking to him for a bit, I felt comfortable trusting his judgment. I didn’t have to explain too much. Many experienced hair stylists from Japan seem to understand the hair so well that just by looking at their clients’ hair, they can figure out what looks better for them. That is what I appreciate about Japanese hair stylists.
I love my new haircut. My hair is very thick and I have a lot. It doesn’t feel or look like I do with this new style.
As I study my photo, I realized that I have a nose ring and a mole on my lip alined. I learned in India when I lived there that Indian women have a nose ring on their left side. It looks like mine is on the left side, too, in this photo above but my camera for some reason created a mirror effect. This is my right side. Having a nose ring on my left would have been better. It’s too late now.
Nora Salon
Unit G3 BSA Tower 108 Legaspi St.
Legaspi Village, Makati City
The salon felt like an art gallery. You probably noticed the beautiful mural paintings in the salon. They were painted by Takeshi Saito who is known for his live paint. It was exciting to see his art in person. The artist, Takeshi Saito, uses a paint roller to draw paintings which blew my mind. I have painted walls with a roller, but I have never thought of drawing a wall mural with it. He’s very impressive. I found a video of him doing a live paint. I have attached the video below. You should take a look!
Below is a video about Takeshi Sato.
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