Bad Hair Day

Japanese young people, especially male students (but girls don't fall behind, no-no-no), seem to have the particular interest in getting their hair the messiest and weirdest- colour possible. It might be fashion, but I think it's rather letting some steam off after years of obeying the strict school regulations (I'm not sure whether there any particular rules about hair though - need to ask Hiroha-san). Japanese kids and then teens need to wear uniforms for all their school years, starting sometimes as young as kindergarten. Clothes can be changed easily, so even if you like to dress extravagantly on the weekends, on Monday you just jump into your regular uniform without anybody knowing. If you decide to have your hair dyed pink, it would be much harder to hide that fact, and would end up with a serious talk at principal's office. After all, in the image-concerned Japan, a pink-haired student wearing the uniform of given school is not the most perfect advertisement for the serious school he's supposed to attend to.

Don't get me wrong, there are perfectly 'standard' hairstyles too, especially long and semi-long female hairstyles and up-dos. But if the person wants to stand out- believe me, they really do. The colours range from all shades of the characteristic, bleached Asian-hair orange blonde, orange blonde then dyed pigeon blonde, resulting in mould-green blonde, blonde with pink and teal streaks, black with rainbow-coloured bangs or ends. Even if the hair looks black, brown or dark-brown, a closer look confirms a pretty expensive cut and four or five different shades applied.

And then of course is the entire range of hair-styling products one can use - waxes, gels, jellies, foams and whipped (sic!) creams. The general rule is - the rougher and spikier the hairstyle - the better.

I've never been much of a hair-concerned person. Most of my life I've never had any special hairstyle - I was leaving my hair loose or catching it in a ponytail or some up-do. I don't even own a hair dryer. Getting my hair done has never taken more than washing it, and the products used are just a shampoo and a conditioner, plus occasionally some hair dye. Seriously, I am as far from having my day ruined because of the bad hair as the North Pole is from the South Pole. I've always thought there are more important things to be concerned about, really.

Before I came to Japan, for that very reason, I've come to the conclusion that getting a haircut in Japan will be far too much a stressful experience to be worth it. So I went to the hairdresser's and ask for a short haircut. Theoretically it was supposed to look a bit like these: 

In practice it looked like nothing like it, but at least it was short and didn't suppose to require any hairdresser's influence for a year, as it would grow back nicely and more or less evenly. Oh, forgot to mention that it was supposed to be easy to take care of. Well, WAS supposed, meaning that for the first time in my life I get up wondering what sort of hairstyle I'm going to have after a well-deserved night rest, and whether it would be hard to smoothen it easily.

Yesterday, getting up slightly later than I expected and not having enough time for a shower before going out, I realized with some concern that my hair had somehow managed to achieve their weirdest state ever. Looking like Christopher Walken in 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' I set off for school, hoping I could fix it temporarily till lunchtime and then wash it quickly during the lunch break in the time I'm usually idling away anyway when waiting for the pasta to boil.

Walking briskly I heard some rumours behind me. I'm not faint at heart, but I've never liked the noisy groups of young males. They are so unpredictable that one must always be prepared, should the confrontation occur. Wondering how to behave if they decided to start bothering me (pretend to be deaf? mumble something under my breath? starting chatting vigorously in Japanese for an initial shock effect?), I heard that they try to convince one of them to go and say something. I started to wonder why is it taking them so long. After all, if they wanted to just bother me, they would have done it without much thinking. They obviously wanted to talk to me, yet they were too shy to ask. In the end the bravest one, now bright red, started:

 　

- あの・・・ (Anoooo, the Japanese expression used to attract the attention of the recipient, while at the same time showing the speaker's hesitation)

 Me:　- はい、どうしたんですか？(Hai, dooshitan desuka?) What happened?/ What's wrong? (the expression showing more concern towards somebody/their problem; encouraging the speaker to say what's bothering them)

The huge wave of relief came upon him, as he had obviously panicked that he stopped a foreigner and would need to talk in English (which he can't despite studying English for at least 8 years). 

Pointing at my hair he asked with serious admiration: 

- How do you do that?

Honestly, nothing in Japan has yet made my day so much as this encounter! :-)

Vivat the Headless Horseman! :-)