Today was haircut day. This is my first weekend back in Helsinki after two weeks of holiday with the family in Italy and likely to be my only chance for a few weeks to attend to the barnet, as next weekend I shall be back in the UK for my daughter's eighteenth birthday.
In Helsinki, I have my haircut at Salon Nadem, at Kolmas Linja 1 in Helsinki. A colleague recommended Nadem when I first moved here and I have been going ever since. Originally from Tunisia, he married a Finnish girl and has built up a busy little business in the Hakaniemi area of the city, which is also home to a wide range of "ethnic" shops. For the Asian community, these shops offer a range of spices, vegetables and Halal meats which allow them to keep culinary contact with their roots. For the Brit, they offer such rare treats as Bird's Custard Powder and tins of corned beef, not easily sourced from the regular supermarkets. But I digress.
I am usually greeted on entering Nadem's place with "hei, English guy!" I don't book an appointment, so though occasionally there is no-one waiting, more often, I'll need to sit and wait while he finishes up a couple of previous customers.
The clientele is very diverse, from English speaking foreigners like me, through ranks of other nationalities as well as native Finns. Listening to him chat in a mix of English, Finnish, Arabic and French (Tunisia was a French protectorate from 1881).
I also enjoy my time in the chair. Having never been a fan of fancy hair salons, I enjoy the simplicity of his set up. From the moment the cape is fastened around my neck, I am transported back to my childhood and memories of schoolboy haircuts. The earliest I can recall was in the barber's shop at the railway station in my home town of Bognor Regis. I would sit on the board resting across the arms of the barber's seat, in order to get me to a height to prevent back pain for the tonsorialist, then while he was fixing the cape, my Mum would give the instruction "a Boston please and not too much off the crown".
Sadly, I can find no Internet reference to this particular style, though the modifier was designed to avoid my double-crowned hair from sticking up, which would now be considered quite stylish.
Today's cut tends to be rather faster (there being rather less to remove) and rather simpler; number 3 clippers at the side to keep the hair shorter. My reasoning being that it is harder to see the grey when the hair is seen end-on. And, compared to the hairstyling of other family members, rather less expensive at €15.
But after it all, I am reminded of the old chestnut about "what's the difference between a good haircut and a bad one?" Surely you know the answer? "About two weeks."
