The crown of your glory.

( This is yours sincerely's salon. The proprietor employs a team of barbers from India, dressed them up smartly in white long sleeved shirts, dark vests and pants. They go " clip...clip...clip" and RM flows into the coffer of the owner. )

( One extra throw-in here is not head twisting but scalp scratching which can be soothing but ticklish. Y s wonders what happens if one has a lot of dandruff ??? )


(This ia a competitor's shop which is opposite Muthu's. It has been here for as long as y s can remember. Parking can be a problem but you can do it beside the river. It is free. )


When yours sincerely was seven or eight years old, back in the late fifties, a haircut was only 20 sen, but if it was done by an itinerant barber ( one who travels around ) on a low stool right outside your house, it was only 10 sen. And how y s used to love the dash of eu de cologne Paris toilet water that he sprayed on the hair before he commenced his clip, clip , clip. With every clip, he would turn his own head in alignment with your head. Of course, after me and my male siblings it was my father's turn.

In my early teens, a haircut at the only Hainanese salon in my hometown was 50 sen without the frills and another 20 sen for a shave, nostril hair removing and plus ear digging. While the barber worked on your head, his pretty daughter, our peer, worked the "punkah." This was pre-electricity days and it was warm having the white cloth drapped around you to catch your cut hair. ( A "punkah" is a paper fan mounted and suspended from the ceiling with a rope attached to it. Pulling the rope sets the "punkah" in motion and it moves the air around it, thus cooling the atmosphere.) Well, y s has to admit that you needed to cool down at the sight of the gorgeous daugher of the barber. L O L . That was also the reason why I never missed and in fact looked forward to my monthly hair cut those days. (We didn't need the teachers to force us to do it every Sunday !!!)

In my twenties, when I started working, a haircut at the Indian barbers in Alor Star was RM 2.00 with no frills but one throw-in and that was a head twist. If you ladies wonder what a head twist is. Just recall one of those Rambo movies where he held the head of the enemy and twisted it to the left and right. Of course, he overtwisted and dislocated the head, and killed his enemy. But this one is twisting just to the exact and precise angle that produces that soothing, delightful sound of "praak....praak.." Wow, you feel very much lighter and sober after that. I had stopped requesting for this service after some friends told me of cases where heads were overtwisted to the effect of "praaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak..." and you have to be rushed to PMC or KMC,no time to ruhsh to Island Hospital or Lam Wah Ee in Penang lor !!!!.

In my fourties, a hair cut was RM6.00. Now it is RM9.00 or RM 12.00 with frills. This is also the time when the unisex salons are competing with the regular barbers. Y s had one or two experiences in the unisex salons and he found them to be very uncomfortable, especially with the other ladies around. And if you were the only soul in the salon, the hair dresser would cook up a tete-a-tete to delight you and ensure that you turned into a return client. When she invaded your airspace and came very close to your face while doing the front head cropping, you just have to hold your breath until you nearly turned green !

As age catches on, y s finds that his crown also starts to wear off. It starts to fade and then turn grey, and as if this is not enough, it starts to drop until his crown becomes very sparse. Sweat practically streams down his forehead in the midst of slurping his "Keoy Teow" soup. While greying is no big deal because there are a thousand and one chemical and also organic dyes to take care of it, bald ( also a four letter word ! ) , balding can be nightmarish. Y s has seen his collegue who spent a handsome sum of money going for multiple implantations, well, it can never be as luxuriant as the original. And you may end up looking like "SemiVeloo" (You know who I mean.)

When y s sees the young of today medddling with their hair, dying a myriad of colours over the lustre orginal natural black, y s feels sympathetic. These people just do not know the value of the original colour of their hair. A hilarious view of hair colours in KL is at the Lowyatt Market. You may even run into a few with blue hair! In Alor Star, perhaps, at the hand phone bazaars at City Plaza or Sentosa plaza, you can view a few with outlandish colour. Y s has also seen highly educated ladies who meddle with their hair, highlighting here and there when the original is so gorgeous.

While on the subject of hair, it is advisible to shampoo it with great care, Y s believes that many people's middle patch starts to bald first for the simple reason that this is the site, the Ground Zero , which has been constantly invaded when shampoo is applied. Most people pour a generous helping of shampoo onto their right palm and then apply it to the centre portion of their head. From here a vigorous scratching of the scald begins. "Scrop...scrap....scrops.. scrap" the fingers, the scald and hair work out a generous lather of bubbles. When satisfaction is reached, water is showered over the head. Looking down the bathroom floor, you can see a mess of fallen and uprooted hair. When you are young, you don't bother because they will grow back in no time. Can you imagine what would happen if this is repated several times a week and over a period of twenty, thrity or forty years ? Balding at Ground Zero!!!

Y s shampoos his hair with upmost care. He does not start from Ground Zero anymore but from the sides or the back. Ground Zero is touched gently so that no further damage is incurred. No more scratching of the scalp but gentle massaging to ensure minimal or zero precious hair is uprooted or dropped.

Keep your crown of glory. There are no spare parts.