A Simple Haircut

Joe needed a haircut so we set out with our driver one afternoon to get one.  We tried to go to a place frequented by a lot of expats where a French woman cuts hair but the shop was closed and we heard she was on vacation and may not be back for quite some time.  Cardin, our driver, said he knew of another good place so we ventured into the Grande Village (the locals area of town) to this tiny little shop.  The 3 of us wandered in where Cardin inquired about the haircut and the man replied, “I don’t cut white people’s hair” and that was that!

We left the Grande Village and stopped at another place in town.  The guy agreed to cut Joe’s hair for 10 000 CFAs.  Cardin felt that was expensive and when he said so the guy replied, “All white guys are 10 000.”  We were prepared to pay it (it was only $20) but the guy was going to be awhile as he was right in the middle of a girl’s weave.  We left and figured we’d head back later if we didn’t find any other options.

In the end we stopped at a Chinese hair cutters and Joe was cleaned up.   The man was like Edward Scissorhands.  He had those scissors going so fast all over the place I thought Joe was going to come out with a manicured figurine on his head.  Alas, it was a pretty standard haircut (I think the man only knows 1 cut and it just gets shorter or longer.)  All this and a quick massage for the bargain price of 7 000 CFAs.