Male Grooming

There seems to be a recurring theme this visit: Male grooming! I had a fantastic time at the barbers in Kanyakumari when I arrived, and since then have had two more experiences of Indian grooming.

The next time was when I returned to Mutom village, one of the re-built Tsunami villages I visited last year. Then I had spent an hour or so chatting to Mr Ravi and his wife.

On my return this year, I was overjoyed to see Ravi had set himself up as the village barber! He had been a fisherman, but lost his trade in the Tsunami and he is still too traumatised to return to the sea. With support from the Y, has has now set himself up.

After a nice chat he ushered me into his shop in his house and offered me a shave a cut. I naturally said yes and sat down happily. As he began the shave, it was revealed to me he had only actually been a barber for 4 days! Now had I known this would I have let him loose with a cutthroat on my neck??!!

Whilst he got to the jugular I slightly paniced, and as it turned out justifiably. He cut me!

Now…we then spent the next few minutes (for the sake of his pride) ignoring the steadily flowing line of blood that was now half way down my chest! Once it reached my trousers I though it best to mention it. He was actually distraught at his slip and tried to patch me up and stem the flow of blood! When all was said and done it was a good shave, and hopefully next year I can get a shave from a more experienced Mr Ravi!

Then, when in Nagpur and feeling particularly ill and exhausted, my friend Pranj lifted me from my slumber and insisted I got on the back of his bike and went to his barbers. It started in a traditionally ‘butch’ way with a shave.

Now I wonder how the following would have gone down in a British barbers.
No one batted an eyelid and many were indulging in the same. Its worth remembering that his was just a bog-standard street barber off the main road, the equivalent of your £8 a go places in London.

He proceeded to apply exfoliating creams and give me a thorough face massage. After exfoliation, he then toned and moisturised, before starting a full head, face and back massage, with aruyeydic oils! Afterwards, I literally felt 10 years younger and probably looked so!

Men here take a genuine and refreshing pride in their appearance. Brilliant!

Finally, I have also ended up with a full half-sleeve of mendhi on my arm. Mitalli spent 3 days slowly building it up on my arm, doing it bit by bit, when she was able to pin me down in her office to do it. Though I have to say it was great to just sit with her and have it done. The result? A fanatically beautiful design covering my hand and arm.

Now I am not sure of the custom of men wearing Mendhi, though the guys at the Sarathi trust do and took an excited interest in my developing design! So when in Rome…

Not sure how it will go down in London, but it will only last a few weeks.