In the Magazine: Asakura Hair Salon in Sanlitun Soho
Billie, a redhead with a penchant for gossip, cut my hair for 22 years. You can imagine my fear, when I went for my first cut outside her seasoned salon. The trim took place on a front porch late in the afternoon and cost me five dollars and a box of cookies. I asked for short and bouncy, ideal for a move to Beijing in the hot summer weather.
The mullet that threatened to graze the lower half of my neck forced me to find a Beijing barber who could do my fine, wispy locks justice.
“Your hair is so soft,” my hairdresser exclaimed. He had seemed the surest of the bunch and didn’t have fried, purple tresses like the others. He snipped here and there and I worried about his confidence. I had brought in a photo to help things go smoothly.
When he was finished, he asked if he could take his own photo. These days, there are surely some pageboy bob photos of me floating around on Weibo. I avoided haircuts as much as I could after that.
Fast forward three years, and I’m taking a picture with Kojima, a Japanese stylist at Asakura. The salon has a longtime reputation with Chinese and Japanese media and recently moved (with, it seems, a whole pack of upscale salons) to Sanlitun Soho. Designed by the same team that did Chi Restaurant, Asakura’s space is airy and hip so that even in the depths of Sanlitun Soho’s domineering towers, you can feel comfortable and pampered.
You’ll pay a fair price to sit in that barber’s chair with well-trained and experienced “top stylists,” some of whom do the styling for fashion magazine shoots. Basic Japanese-style haircuts start at RMB 480 and cuts from Chinese stylists start at RMB 400.
“Will it look good on me?” I asked about the baby bangs I wanted, while Kojima worked, unfazed.
“Of course,” he replied, but his next phrase gave me that sense of security needed for overseas haircuts. “If it didn’t, I wouldn’t approve it.”
Asakura
Sat-Thu 11am-8pm, Fri Noon-9pm. 3309, Bldg 3, Sanlitun Soho, 8 Gongti Beilu, Chaoyang District (6506 7455)
朝阳区工体北路8号三里屯Soho 3号商场3309室
Photo: Ken
