Getting a haircut

Getting a haircut

Well this is a no-brainer of course. Especially for the men this could be a nice experience as haircuts usually include some kind of head massaging and even shaving. Well the shaving thing for me isn’t nice. The last time I shaved my face completely was in September and I ended up staying inside my flat for a week because it’s always a shock to see my face without any beard. You know: not a beautiful sight.

My first experience about haircuts here in Portugal was maybe three weeks ago. Since that I had cut my hair myself with my own clippers which now decided to stop working during the cutting session so I had my neck mixed up with really long hair and the short one. It was almost seven o´clock and I panicked. Luckily I found a place in the Av. Marquês de Pombal that was still open and decided to take me in as the last customer of the evening.

I didn’t have the time to view a catalog so I ended up going there a bit like blindfolded. The barber was nice he didn’t speak good English or anything and clearly he was in a hurry. The style that I was looking for was a nice casual business look and I ended up having some Cristiano Ronaldo (d*u*h*b*g) look. On the other hand anything is better than the “style” I had when I went in.

Well has anyone ever exited a barber shop being happy? Because I haven’t. Also a good thing about hair is that it usually grows back and in three weeks I think that this current style of mine is okay so I’m alive and well once again.

So in this section I am going to give you information about some barber shops that I have found here in Leiria.

Paris 5

paris 5

This is the place where I went for my first experience. Paris 5 is an unisex barber shop. Quite a new one I think because you cannot find any information from the Internet yet.

It’s hard to say whether I would recommend this place or not. Maybe I would say yes because the quality of the work was decent in a short time and also the customer service was good even though the barber’s English was really poor.

The pricing was below average I think because usually you pay over 10 euros for a cut here in Leiria but in this place the cut was 8 euros. You also get one of those cards where they mark every cut you take there and the tenth cut will be free.

Tosquia – Cabeleireiros

https://www.facebook.com/tosquiacabeleireiros/timeline

tosquia

A Barberia by Ana Raquel

https://www.facebook.com/ABarbearia

araquel

Kika Cabeleireiros E Estética

kika

Right across the street from Casulo.

Visual Concept – Instituto de Beleza Lda

visual

I also visited this place one day and they didn’t speak any English in the place. The only information I got that they were busy on that week and only had times for the next week. Busy ladies so this place is probably quite popular.

Longer lists about the barbershops in city of Leiria can be found for example here:

http://www.pai.pt/cabeleireiros/leiria-leiria/

http://leiria.infoisinfo.com.pt/busca/cabeleireiro/2

http://hair-salons.kerastase.com/search?query=leiria&country=pt

My tips

Don’t go to a barber shop empty handed. If you don’t have any Portuguese skills then take a local friend with you to act as an interpreter. The second option is to take a photo of a desired hairstyle and show it from your smart phone. One photo tells you more than thousand words…

You can also ask for a catalog easily because the word in Portuguese, “catálogo”, is almost the same as it is in English. Cannot go too much wrong with the pronouncing I think.

The third advice is to ask the pricing before the cutting process. “Preço?” it is in Portuguese and usually the locals understand it when you ask it in English. Maybe you could even use the international hand sings and by saying that I don’t mean the middle finger. Usually rubbing your thumb against the next two fingers does the job.

And number four: it will grow back.

 

Tuomas Haapala Written by: