cut.it.out.

we're living in a crazy time right now.
unrest in the middle east & Africa.
persisting global economic worries.
Charlie Sheen.

when you lay it all out, it's really not all that dissimilar to the issue i was faced with today: i needed to find a place to get my hair cut.
for you see, it's the simple things in life that we oft take for granted. gone is my cozy little 'salon' on Granville, where Brandie would always have a cold beer ready for me to get me nice & relaxed before the chop.

that was then.....this is Hong Kong. doing a little bit of research, there are a couple of different tiers of cutters in this town. you have the higher end 'salons', like Tony & a Guy (or something like that), where you'd end up paying a ton of cash. i don't think my hair deserves you, Tony.

on the complete opposite end of the scale, i found a very unique approach to a barber shop. it's called an alley, with a chair and an old man. now this is Hong Kong, people! i was actually really psyched to go check this out, as it's merely a few blocks away from us. unfortunately, it just so happens that they are throwing up another condo on that block, so the old guy has certainly picked up and moved to another little nook (archive image below).

Third option is the chop shop, figuratively and literally. there is a very efficient mentality to these types of barbers - get 'em in and get 'em out. one place even brags to offer the '10-minute haircut', and goes as far as to breakdown their patented efficient system to haircutting. to be honest, that is very much ok with me. the beer notwithstanding, i would have been ecstatic to escape the chair short of an hour on average back home. this ain't no magic cuts either...., there is still some TLC in those sheers. average cost of a cut here - $50hkd ($6 CAD); now that sounds like magic cuts.

so, which place did i end up at? actually none of these. i found a somewhat normal looking place not far from the condo development, walked in and within 15 mins & $100hkd, i was freshly shorn. i suppose it's the hybrid choice for my hair. next time out though, i'm gonna take a poll and you, the Freedomites, will get to choose a hair style for me. (fine print - if i have a real job by then, this offer is null & void).
oh, and here are a few random shots that have very little to do with a hair or cutting.