I Learned to Cut My Own Hair in Japan

When I was a child, most boys around me had very short crew cuts. In our area, we also called that style a brush cut. I disliked it strongly and resisted getting that kind of haircut.

So back then, I usually kept my hair around 10 centimeters long. After entering middle school, I began liking slightly longer hair, and I more or less kept that style until I started working.

Actually, when we were students, whether in middle school or university, there would occasionally be strange trends where a group of boys suddenly shaved their heads.

In middle school, it was often because some boys had grown their hair a bit long and the school started enforcing appearance rules. To protest, a group of boys went to the opposite extreme and shaved their heads. It was a clever move. Teachers who enforced the rules too harshly must have been furious but could not easily do anything. So many things teach us the same lesson: do not push things to the absolute limit. If you do, it usually does not benefit you either.

No Longer Keeping Long Hair

When did I stop keeping longer hair?

Before adulthood, the school’s abnormal and high-pressure management gave me neurasthenia, and I often could not sleep at night.

After becoming an adult, I soon began staying up all night from time to time. During school, it was internet cafes; after work, it was usually work itself, or trying to realize my own ideas and dreams. Over time, my hair became oily easily, and dandruff was annoying too. Later, I kept a short, layered style of around three or four centimeters and stopped liking long hair. Shorter hair looks cleaner, is easier to manage, and as you get older, it also makes you look more energetic.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic began, and suddenly finding a place for a haircut became troublesome. So I bought haircutting tools and started cutting my hair at home. The crew cut I hated as a child became my normal style. Unexpectedly, it now feels pretty good. These days, as soon as my hair gets a little longer, it feels like a burden on my head. Time really does not spare anyone.

Haircuts in Japan

After all that, let us get to the main point. Long ago, I heard people from my hometown who came to Japan for work talk about haircuts here.

After coming to Japan myself, I found that haircuts are a little different from back home. In Japan, hair-related shops are generally divided into two types: barber shops and beauty salons.

Most barber shops require reservations, and even an ordinary cut is not cheap. These days, it is probably around 2,000 yen or more.

Of course, there are quick-cut places similar to those in China, without shampooing, and the cut is definitely finished within ten minutes. But with Japan’s minimum wage level, even that usually costs around 1,300 to 1,500 yen. The service is still acceptable, but the haircut result is just so-so. You cannot expect too much. Do not ask how I know; I am exactly the kind of person who only spends money on this type.

Starting to Cut My Own Hair

So I invested heavily in haircutting tools, spending more than 20,000 yen in total, and now I cut my hair myself every time. So far, I still have not recovered the cost.

Some people may ask: how can you cut your own hair?

Yes, for most normal hairstyles, it is almost impossible for ordinary people to cut their own hair properly. But a crew cut is much simpler. As long as you buy good electric clippers, most people can manage it.

Some may say it is not worth spending that much money to cut your own hair.

That may be true. Even if a haircut costs 2,000 yen, I would need more than ten cuts to break even. If someone only cuts their hair once every two or three months, it would take years.

So this depends on the person. Why did I still choose this path? I think the long explanation above makes that clear.

You can certainly buy cheaper tools, but you should consider a few points:

• In China, you can buy clippers and scissors for a little over 100 yuan, but tools like that make it hard for one person to cut their own hair well.
• When living overseas, it is better to use tools of decent quality. If something breaks halfway through a haircut, how embarrassing would that be?
• The tools I bought are more expensive, but they can all be washed with water, which saves a lot of cleanup time.

Overcoming the Psychological Barrier

If you also think a crew cut looks bad, old-fashioned, or hard to show in public, it really is not a problem after coming to Japan.

Think about it: what sport is most popular and respected in Japan?

Baseball. You can simply imagine your short haircut as a baseball-style cut. The psychological barrier disappears instantly.

That is enough on this topic. If you have read this far, you should now have some idea of the haircut issue after coming to Japan.