I last had a haircut in the first week of April. The one before that was a little under 3 months earlier, so I went for a number 2. It was also during a salon’s special, having just changed management. Despite it being located on the other side of my suburb, I drove there one Saturday and got clipped for $10.00. As it was a number 2, the result was pretty drastic and when I stepped into the office on the Monday after, everyone gave me “what-have-you-done-to-your-hair” looks. I consoled myself that for the equivalent of RM30, I had to get my money’s worth. After all, the Indian barber in Klang I had gone to for years had charged me RM6 for years before increasing it to RM8. I felt a little extravagant today therefore when I stepped into the shopping centre near my office (The Glen) and got my second Aussie clip for $15. And it wasn’t even a number 4. It was just a trim so that the ends and edges looked neater. I had it done during lunch today and so far (about 5.30 pm now), no one had said anything. RM45. That is 5.625 haircuts in the Indian barber in good old Eng Ann. That’s 8.4375 months worth of haircuts. How do I console myself? Well even in KL I had colleagues who went for RM35 haircuts, and I had seen salons in the same shopping centre charging rates ranging from $17 to $35. So I was still using the cheapest service. The Indian barber of Melbourne. The only cheaper ones would have been another salon undergoing a change in management or some Chinaman operating out of his home during his “special” (which expired sometime in March). I guess I need to find a book titled “Hairdressing for Dummies” and start mastering the art of self-administered haircuts.