Barber Shop on a Monday Night in Muscat

I approached a barber shop where three barbers were working on a Monday night. As I was entering the shop, I heard a screeching woman's voice as she was yelling and gesticulating emphatically from her car to one of the barbers in the shop. I saw two children, one a pre-teen and one about 8 yrs. of age. The mom and the preteen were arguing with one of the barbers over a hair cut. I don't know what the big deal was; the hair cut was not that bad, the problem was, the kid had a misshapen head. And, no cut, no matter how fresh it is, will fix a misshapen head.

On this evening, I received a good shave on my head and face. I got my ear hair (on the inside of my ear) removed the Turkish way. Usually the Turkish way consists of a barber lighting a q-tip on fire and quickly placing it near one's ear lobe, thus burning the hair out of one's ear. Instead of a q-tip, my barber just took a lighter, put it up to my ear, quickly swung his hand by ear and produced the same effect. Weird sensation, but it worked. I've always wanted a Turkish haircut experience and on this evening I got one.

I have to mention that everything described in the previous paragraphs took place while all three barbers were mesmerized by an Indian/Hindi language version of the popular tv game show, "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire." All the barbers in this particular shop were of Indian descent and they all would stop what they were doing during an exciting part of the show. Usually when I visit this particular shop, the barbers are watching Bollywood films with full on elaborate dance sequences that I find very entertaining or they are watching Bollywood/Kung fu movies with horribly dubbed sound effects and characters with great mustaches/lip ticklers that keep me laughing.

As the evenings activities unfolded around me, I was equally mesmerized and amused. And honestly, the aforementioned activity is not at all uncommon at barbershops in Muscat on any given night. For quality of cut, value, and entertainment, Muscat has been the best place for me to get a haircut and a shave.

As always, looking forward to my next trip to the barber shop. Never know what to expect!