Nepali Shave

There are many little haircut/clean shave shops in Nepal. Haircuts were either done with or without electric trimmers depending on whether the haircutting manchee (man) had electricity or not. The latter was usually the case, for which the cost would only be 20 cents. But, when dealing with tourists, they just say pay as you please knowing that they would always get more. Getting a clean shave was pretty much the same deal, but it was always done without electricity. The shaving cream always came from a tube, and the razor was always just a razorblade on the end of a metal flipstick.

I was in the mood for a shave, and walking through Pokhara one night, I saw this boy in the clean shave shop, and I thought it would be adventurous to get a shave from a Nepali boy who isn't even old enough to need a shave, so I walked on in. The electricity was out in this part of the city at the time, so we had to light up some candles. I sat down. He threw towel with cartoon characters around my neck, splashed some water on my face, and vigorously rubbed my cheeks to get all those get-ready-for-your-shave skin molecules ready for a clean shave. He got out his magic brush and basted my face with that shaving cream in a tube. He pulled out a pack of fresh razorblades and slapped one on his flipstick.

He began. I asked his name, which I forget now, and then asked him how old he was. He said, "Fourteen," with a huge grin across his face. I said, "Sweet." We talked and joked. The shave came out very nice with him even taking great care to get those little white hairs close to the lips. He wiped a little alcohol bar on my face, and then he offered a massage. He started with my eyelids, worked his way down my shoulders to my hands, and then he did my back. I paid him about $1.50, and the next day I saw him bragging to his friends about how much he got from that foreigner over there. I didn't do the best job in the world of discouraging child labour, but I sure got a nice shave out of it.