Haircut and Streetside Barbers

So much of life in Hanoi takes place in the street: people drink tea, exercise, cook, eat, play, and of course, get their hair cut.

I’ve got my haircuts at these streetside barbers all my life. It’s a facet of Hanoi that I love dearly — I doubt you can find these haircut stalls on the pavement in many other places around the world. It’s distinctively Hanoi.

The Old Barber

From when I was a little kid — when I started to have the faintest memory really, my dad had been sending me to a barber near our house. His “shop” was right in front of my primary school, which was a 5-minute walk from my house.

The guy was really old; he must have been in his late 70s around that time. His hair was all grey and white. It’s been almost 20 years. I wonder if he is still alive.

Anyway, I was a regular customer at that old man’s haircut stall for several years. His stall wasn’t on the pavement but inside a rundown house in the first floor of an old apartment building.

I think a haircut was 7,000 VND at the time. My dad would drop me off at his shop and come back about 20 minutes later to pick me up.

I remember my dad reminding me many times to watch for the razor change, because if the barber reused an old blade I might get HIV! That was so scary to hear at the time, and I started to develop the habit of keeping my eyes on the blade change.

The old man’s shop closed when I was in secondary school. I started to visit random different barbers instead of having a regular one like in those primary school years.

The Curly Hair Problem

Most kids’ haircuts tend to be straightforward. The barber could go for a bowl cut and nobody would complain.

I was a bit… different. I have curly hair. A bit of both curly and wavy. I think I got this from my mother’s side? Either way, my mane would grow out thick and out of control quickly. A mere comb was never enough to get it in order.

Sometimes I would look at my friends with straight hair and wish I could have a simple side part like theirs. This was almost impossible with the way my hair would curl. Even to this day, I have no idea which hairstyle fits me the best.

I ended up having many different styles over the years. This was in stark contrast with my dad who has basically been having the same middle part throughout his life. Straight-haired people really have it so much easier!

Streetside Barbers

I’ve never really paid that much attention to my hair at all. I think a lot of the lifelong habits you have are developed from your childhood and teenage years. Having visited street barbers my entire life, I now actually feel uncomfortable walking into a proper salon — even if money is not an issue at all now.

In Hanoi, a street barber is basically an entrepreneur who starts up his own business with a chair, a mirror, hair styling tools, and that’s it! It’s a very cheap business to start, and you earn a very decent income. I remember a friendly talkative barber telling me that he earned around 15 – 20 million a month, and his kid would ask him why he could earn so much while her salary was only 5 million. He said he had been cutting hair before she was born, and his income reflected his seniority. Makes sense I guess.

I have had haircuts at so many barbers throughout my life. Usually they gather in clusters so that customers can find them more easily. Right now I often frequent the stalls on Thái Thịnh street.

A common topic of conversation is complaining about the weather! If it gets windy? The wind blows the hair on the ground onto their face. Rainy? Nobody goes out! Sunny and hot? Just have to suck it up because there is no AC.

Having their own shop or salon is a different story. They can work late in the evening, through rain or shine. It’s really a lot more comfortable compared to having to be on the street all day.

Skill-wise, at least for a low-demand customer like myself, I have noticed very little difference between the street barbers and the salon ones. I’ve tried visiting a fancy salon once. It was 120,000 VND for a cut, and the outcome was… meh. Nothing special. Very much the same with what I get for 50,000 from a guy on the pavement.

I guess salons are more for guys with extremely elaborate hair. It also makes sense as I’ve never seen women on those pavement stalls. For me, to keep things simple, I’ve been consistently going back for sort of a buzz cut that any barber can do. I always tip 10,000 when they do a decent job.

But not every haircut is a positive experience. A small issue that I occasionally have is when the barber gets careless with the razor, and they cause cuts on my face. It’s nothing major; the cut goes away after a day at most. But it’s still really annoying, especially because they are in hurry to get the next customer in, and then they never apologise. I’ve asked them to stop shaving my face altogether.

The Career Goes On

I’ve noticed that the number of pavement barbers has been on the decline these past years. My guess is that it’s partly because of regulation (the police don’t like it when people do business on the pavement), and partly because many barbers would end up starting their own indoor salons. Life on the street can be rough, having to be right next to all the exhaust fumes and noise pollution all day.

From the barbers I’ve talked to, not a single one wants their kids to follow their footstep. They all want solid white-collar jobs for their children. All of them work hard so that their kids can go to a decent university and not be like dad.

Personally I think it is a nice career to have. There is a certain feeling of satisfaction seeing the fruits of your labour unfolding in front of you. It also guarantees a decent income while not being excessively stressful (well it’d be a different story if you messed up a customer’s hair!). Just a couple of days ago I heard two guys exchanging banter, and one said being a barber he would never be poor but also never be rich. People always need to have their hair cut. A decent middle-class life is what it is.

I would be really sad if one day all the street barbers were gone and I had no other choice but to visit a salon. Those old stalls can make the streets look untidy and messy, but they represent a slice of life for so many Hanoians which I would love to see continue in the future.