The haircut wasn’t the only great thing we got out of this great-price deal. China has a rich street food culture, and for many travelers grabbing a bite to eat from a roadside food stall is high on t

The haircut wasn’t the only great thing we got out of this great-price deal.

China has a rich street food culture, and for many travelers grabbing a bite to eat from a roadside food stall is high on the list of things they want to do in the country. But did you know that China has roadside haircut stalls too?

Though he can’t say for sure how common they are, our Japanese-language reporter Seiji Nakazawa can confirm that there’s at least one in the town of Datong, in Shanxi Province. Seiji spotted this boxy little hair salon while out for a walk in the afternoon, and was shocked at the listed price of just 8 yuan, which converts to about 160 yen (US$1) at the current exchange rate. That’s roughly a tenth of the price charged by most of Japan’s budget chain hair salons, and since Seiji was feeling a little shaggy, he figured this deal was too good to pass up.

However, maybe this deal was also too good to be true? Despite it being the middle of the day, there was no staff present at the haircut stall, and he guessed that maybe it had gone out of business due to unsustainably low prices, and the owners had just abandoned it. This theory, though, turned out to be incorrect, because when Seiji wandered back down this same stretch of street after sundown…

…the stall was now open for business! It turns out that because of the intense heat of the summer weather in Datong, locals try to avoid doing errands during the hottest times of day, and instead try to shift those schedules to the cooler nighttime hours, and so that’s when this haircut stall starts welcoming customers.

Now, though, Seiji had a decision to make: How was he going to get his hair cut? To be honest, considering how cheap the price was, he wouldn’t have been surprised if this place had a no-requests policy and simply kept all customers’ hairstyling the same as it was when they came in but trimmed it to be shorter. However, peeking inside at a customer seated in the stall’s single chair, he could see the conversational back and forth between the customer and stylist as he told her how he wanted his hair cut.

So after giving it some thought, Seiji decided to ask for the Haaland.

OK, so maybe that’s not an officially recognized term in the hairstyling industry, but in any case,** Seiji wanted to look like Erling Haaland, the star striker of Norway’s national soccer team who shined especially brightly in the squad’s campaign at the World Cup**. Haaland has a distinctive look, with a long ponytail and the sides of his head shaved clean, and between that and his on-field prowess, he received lots of screen time during media coverage of the tournament, including in China, as Seiji saw him several times on TV during his trip.

We should probably mention that Seiji doesn’t speak Chinese, but through gestures and murmurs he was able to convey that he wanted a haircut, and the stylist let him know to wait outside, as there’s not much spare space inside the stall. He was the only non-local waiting for a haircut, and the regular customers regarded the traveling newcomer with friendly curiosity.

Haircuts at the stall took about 10 minutes per person, so Seiji figured he wouldn’t have that long to wait, and his wait got even shorter when the elderly gentleman who was actually ahead of him in line good-naturedly gestured for him to go ahead of him, as a sign of hospitality to their visitor from overseas.

Once inside, Seiji took a seat and attempted to bridge the language barrier and make his request. Unfortunately, when he smiled and said “Haaland,” the stylist repeated “Haaland…?”, with an audible question mark that showed she didn’t know who he was talking about.

This wasn’t a complete shock, as while Seiji was waiting he’d been pulling up pictures of the soccer player on his phone, and none of the other customers seemed to recognize him either. Like we said above, Haaland is known among soccer fans in China, but maybe this stylist and her clientele just aren’t all that into sports.

Thankfully, though, this wasn’t actually such a big problem, because Haaland’s fame within the sporting world means there are all sorts of photos of him online, showing his head and hairstyle from various angles. After looking at a number of them, the stylist seemed confident that she could give Seiji the same look, and so they got started.

Seiji was impressed that despite being a roadside stall, this is still a very professionally run hair salon. The stylist had a proper cape that she draped around his shoulders, and all of the scissors, razors, combs, and spray bottles necessary for a transformative haircut on the order of what Seiji had asked for.

Speaking of the stark contrast in Seiji’s before and after appearances, a small crowd had gathered to watch the show as the stylist cut his hair.

At one point, a man running a nearby food stall even took a break to come over and take an extended look.

And when it was all done, not only did the stylist give him a heartwarming wave goodbye, he even got a round of cheers from the group that had been watching.

So, how did Seiji’s haircut turn out?

Very nicely! Not only would anyone who’s a Haaland fan immediately recognize the inspiration, the styling itself looks good enough on Seiji that it’s be a satisfying cut even without the sporting connection.

▼ Before

▼ After

It’s one of the best haircuts Seiji’s had since that time he had a stylist turn him into Rengoku from Demon Slayer.

▼ Video of Seiji’s roadside hair salon stall haircut

Even more than how he looked or how little he’d had to pay, though, what really made Seiji happy about the experience was the people he’d interacted with. Japan and China have a complicated history, to put it mildly, and the anonymity and echo-chamber environment of social media can be a breeding ground for all sorts of ignorant, antagonistic rhetoric. There are people with good hearts in every country in the world, though, and even if Seiji couldn’t communicate directly with the staff or other customers, the smiles they exchanged showed that they know thought of each other as friends, even if they didn’t necessarily think of Seiji as Haaland.