A Hairy Situation: How cutting works for Asians

The other day, I was scrolling through Instagram when this image appeared on my feed.

It didn’t resonate with me. Didn’t laugh, didn’t smile, didn’t even blow air out of my nostrils.

Now, two weeks later and searching for topics to write about, it came up again. And to tell the truth, haircuts have been an interesting development in my life as a direct result of one thing and one thing only — I’m Asian.

To begin with, all young Asian boys have unrealistic expectations about hair and hairstyles in general. Having grown up on a diet of anime characters and their spiky, gravity-defying hairstyles, my understanding of hair was severely limited, but my expectations were high.When paired with Asian parents, only despair ensues. For those that were fortunate to live somewhere that believed in the importance of haircuts, I’ll elaborate. Asian parents believe only in two types of haircuts, and they both start with the letter B.

For the majority of my life, I sported one of the two hairstyles. When my parents dragged me to the bathroom, brandishing a off-brand razor they bought from Costco, my hair would come out looking like my hopes for becoming an anime character — cut down to the lowest levels. Even after I battled for the right to have longer hair, it just went from buzz cut to bowl cut. To quote my mom, who did most of the desecration, “The circle is the perfect shape. So symmetrical, looks good to the eye.” Reflecting that, my head was reminiscent of an egg for my entire childhood. Moving forwards, I knew I had to get something done. The following are my limited insights on haircuts, from the perspective of a stifled Asian male.

To begin, I find that most people don’t know where to start with their hair daydreams. After being shackled for so long, the freedom to choose yet the lack of knowledge often leaves people disoriented and lost. It certainly did to me. Simply put — the majority of haircuts are meant for white people, and simply too difficult to implement on Asians. Our hair doesn’t curl that much. The first step is to find somewhere that caters to Asian style haircuts. They will generally know how to treat your hair better, and can recommend different cuts to you. Personally, I’m a fan of Q-Hair in Downers Grove (Q for Qorean), but other people swear by Park Jun’s hair salon. Finding somewhere that suits you is a must, as just a few inches can create a huge difference in perception.

If you look into it further, you’ll find that despite the large Asian population in Naperville, the few places for Asian cuts aren’t that swamped. What could all these people be doing? Surely they can’t all be getting mowed down in the privacy of their homes could they? I mean, some of them actually look decent. Well, turns out they’re just finding alternative methods. Since you need a license to work as a hairstylist in all 50 states, Asian immigrants who have experience aren’t qualified to work. They operate out of their living rooms, garages, wherever they can. While I don’t know if there are any of these underground stylist in Naperville right now, Chicago’s Chinatown is densely populated with them. Others still wait until they get all the way back to the mainland, where prices are cheap (1-3 USD) and style is more prominent. 

At the end of the day, haircuts are simply a reflection of cultural differences. A-listers and Hollywood celebrities look completely different than K-pop stars and idols, and this commonality is reflected across the globe, and there will never be a style that suits everyone. If you’re looking for Asians though, you shouldn’t be expecting to see many at your local Sports Clips — you’d be better off checking at their own homes.