I love getting my hair cut abroad

Many people are a bit protective of their hair. Not me. I’ll get my hair cut in any country around the world, and in fact I have.

Hair styles obviously differ by country, but the way your hair is cut varies even more.

Last week I got my hair cut in France and I must say, the young woman did a wonderful job. Back in Vermont it takes about 20 minutes. In France, it ran well over an hour, but perfection takes time.

In Bangkok, my hair cut came with a neck massage and steaming hot towels. In Paris this spring, the barber cut my beard so short I wasn’t sure it was still a beard.

In Italy, the barbers are in love with their straight-edge razors. It’s just like in the movies with the blade sharpened on a strap of leather before being used to scrape my neck and cheeks clean. It works well, and no one has yet drawn blood, but it makes me nervous like you wouldn’t believe.

In Spain this spring, the barber pulled an amazing number of cutting instruments out of his drawer and he spent so much time making me beautiful I felt like I was about to go to the Senior Prom.

I am confident that my hair will grow back if disaster strikes, so I normally don’t hesitate. But I do recall taking a pass once in Laos. My daughter and I had taken a boat up the Mekong and we stopped in a tiny village. On the sand on the bank of the river, a barber was sitting people down and cutting their hair with a pair of hand-powered shears. I’m sure it would have been an adventure, but I thought better of it.