Kuaför

For years I have left my hair to its natural color of grey, but before this trip I decided I didn’t want to be grey anymore.  I had Brendan at 1^st Impressions color my hair a few weeks before I left, amid questions from a number of people as to what I was going to do about coloring my hair while I was gone.  I told them I figured the women colored their hair here, just like we do at home, and if not, I wondered if they used henna. 

Well, I’ve had my hair done twice since I have been here.  The first time was in Izmir, where Abdullah’s daughter-in-law took me to her hairdressers.  Then I went again today to Elif’s hairdresser.

So, what was it like?  Well, for starters, it was much, much cheaper.  I paid 50 Turkish Lira in Izmir and 60 here in Istanbul.  That’s about 30 and 35 dollars, respectfully.  Not bad for a cut and color, but admittedly, my hair is quite short, so it may be more for longer hair.

The French word, Kuaför, is used for a hairdresser and I swear there is a Kuaför on every other corner is not more frequently.  I wondered how they all could stay in business, but now I understand a bit more about them.  Women go not only to have their hair cut and colored or to have their nails done, but also to have their hair straightened or curled for everyday wear.  It seems that women everywhere want their hair to be the opposite of what they have: straight or curly!  When I was at the hairdresser in Izmir, a woman with long hair came in and one of the hairdressers spent a good 45 minutes on styling her hair.  No wash, cut, or anything else: just styling.  When I asked if this was for a special occasion, I was told that no, it was just for the week.  As in Hungary, many women only wash their hair once or twice a week, so going to the hairdresser to have their hair styled lasts for a number of days.  Guess this is what many of our mothers used to do too.  Elif told me that many of the teachers she works with spend quite a bit of money on a weekly basis to have their hair done with extensions, etc.  Elif went the other day and had hers straightened which lasted a few days. 

Another difference is that appointments are not made, rather everyone just walks in and they help the women in the order they come in.  Today when I was in the shop, one other woman was already have her hair colored.  By the time I left, two more women had color on their hair, one was already in the chair I had been in and two more were waiting.  There were two hairdressers and an assistant: all male.  There was also a gal doing nails.  There was one sink and four other chairs and the two haridressers went between the four chairs doing the hair.  The assistant washed hair, assisted in drying and styling the hair and laid out comb, brush, scissors and apron for the hairdressers at each station.  He also helped women out of their coats, helped them with putting their coats back on, and generally ran around doing everything else so the two hairdressers could just keep moving along!  Obviously, it was quite the operation – only wish I could have understood what was being said.

Oh, and how did I communicate?  At the first hairdressers, the woman who took me spoke English, so she explained what I wanted, and the hairdresser spoke a little English as well.  Today, no one spoke English, but Elif wrote a note for me, saying I wanted the same color and a short cut.  She also stopped in before hand and told them I would be there and to take good care of me, so they were prepared for this mute woman who showed up! 

I don’t know what brand of color was used in Izmir, but the color today was a German brand.  They mixed it just like they do at home and painted it onto my hair the same way too – so, the bottom line is that yes, they color their hair here just the same way we do at home.  Oh, and all the woman I saw getting their hair done both here and in Izmir, did not wear scarves on their heads, so I still don’t know if the scarf wearing women color their hair!