Haircuts

I attempted to give the hubby a haircut on Sunday night. I've been cutting his hair for a long time. It started with him going to graduate school and me not having a job - we needed to find a way to cut costs and a pair of clippers & a buzz seemed like a good solution! I've since learned his hairstyle and can combine the clippers on the sides with scissors on top for a pretty good-looking do. Applying the same education to our son, it has felt good to keep those expenses down. Not to mention not having to deal with the fear of the barber shop!

When I plugged our clippers (from the US) into our transformer (purchased here at the local grocery store) on Sunday night, I thought they had been possessed! My hands were still a little numb Monday morning and I was too scared to actually give M the haircut! So that's some bad news. Worse: school pictures are Thursday and C's last haircut was at least 2 months ago. But I definitely wasn't putting those clippers close to anyone's head!

So, Monday morning, rather than enjoying the morning at home, I found myself (once again) out on the town visiting the grocery store. (Side note: grocery stores here are really like Walmart or Meijer, not just groceries.) My driver and I talked on the way over and he was sure they wouldn't have clippers. Everyone here, he says, goes to the salon or barber shop. It's apparently only around $1.50 for a good haircut! When I told him haircuts start at $13 and can go up to $100 in the US, he was stunned! I think he was even more surprised when I came out of the store with a new pair of clippers. Especially after I told him the price (around $60). I could see him calculating how many $1.50 haircuts I could have bought for the same amount of money.

The thing is, I like the convenience of cutting my family's hair. I like that I can do it and hope I can continue after this assignment is over. It's a life skill I worked hard for and would like to maintain. That and I can't take the tears when we go to the salon! I haven't tried the clippers yet, but they are rated for 110-240v. I'll let you all know how it goes...