I have been wanting to get my hair permed for a while now.

Straight hair just doesn’t suit my personality.

My hair stylist in Fairfield doesn’t provide hair perming service. My hair stylist in Iowa city needs me to make a consultation appointment and follow by another separate appointment after that. That means I need to go back to IC twice!

When I first set my foot on Chinatown, I immediately looked for a hair salon. Why in Chinatown? Because generally Chinese hairstylists know how to handle Asian hair with minimal instruction.

I walked around Chinatown, within five minutes, a salon on Maunakea Street caught my eyes. It’s a very small salon with T.W. Salon written on it. I opened the door and met Terry. I asked him about his hair perming service. He showed me a stack of hairstyle magazines and asked me to choose the style I like. I just pointed to the first magazine cover I saw. “That’s what I want”.

Terry said, “Sure!”

He seemed very down to earth kind of guy and intuitively I trusted him.

He fitted me in the first time slot available tomorrow morning, at 9am. 🙂 That was easy. 🙂

I came back to Chinatown the next day, around 7:30am. That was my third visit to Chinatown and by that time, I was pretty familiar with the area already. I parked my car at Cultural Plaza (recommended by Terry). The parking rate was only $4 forat the p(with validation)!

I stopped by two dim-sum places at Cultural Plaza but they weren’t opened yet. Finally I found one that was open at 7:30am. 🙂

Yummy Dim Sum. Too bad I had to enjoy it alone. 🙁

I stepped into T.W. Salon at 9a.m. sharp. Terry was there waiting for me already.

How about a before pic?

The whole hair-perm process took about two and half hour. Yawn!

So, I started chit-chatting with Terry in Cantonese/Mandarin. I don’t have much chance to talk in Cantonese in Iowa! Terry was born in Hong Kong and lived in San Francisco for a while. Then, he decided that S.F. was too cold for him and moved to Oahu more than 10 years ago. Oh well! I bet he wouldn’t like the cold in Iowa either!

Terry loves fishing. On the wall, he has photos of him with huge fish that he has caught.

Still working on it

Yawn! I started flipping through H.K. gossip magazines. I haven’t been keeping up with H.K. entertainment world and I could only recognize a few “older” movie stars 🙁 and it was nice to read about their stories.

Done! Finally.

Then, Terry told me that he doesn’t accept credit card. OMG! I didn’t have enough cash with me. I totally forgot to bring more cash with me to Chinatown.

That was when Terry immediately said to me, “Don’t worry, why so rush? You go shopping first (I told him that I wanted to get some BBQ chicken for lunch). Go now. Pay me later.”

He then moved to the next customer. What? He has neither my full name, nor my phone number. And, he asked me to pay later?

I didn’t know the credit card pin number to withdraw cash (I have never withdrawn cash from credit cards before). So, I told Terry that I would need to go back to my apartment to get more cash, and that would take about an hour

Terry said, “Haiya, why so rush? I trust you.”

Again, he didn’t ask for my full name; didn’t ask for my phone number.

I left Terry’s salon.

I didn’t forget to pack some char siu (roasted pork) and roasted chicken before I left Chinatown. 🙂

Good selection of roasted chicken, char siu, pork and duck are available at Chinatown.

I went back to my apartment, had my lunch, rested a little. Then, headed back to Terry’s to pay for my hair service.

I gave Terry the cash, and AGAIN, Terry said, “Why so rush?”

Hahaha. Terry, you are one of a kind.

I wished him catching big, big fish in the future.

And, did I tell you I LOVE my hair?

My new hair! (Photo by Radim)

Something about the water, air and humidity on this Island – my hair is extra fluffy and full. 🙂 No wonder the local girls here have big beautiful curlyhair.

I love my wild island hair! I had plumeria flowers in my hair (Karan picked them fresh from the garden). The flowers were next to my ear and I could smell the sweetness of the flower. 🙂

BTW, plumeria flowers can be worn by women to indicate their relationship status – over the right ear if seeking a relationship, and over the left if taken.