A little while ago I had the chance to do some modeling for the hair salon Charman in Daikanyama.! I just got the pictures from the shoot from my hair stylist Aco-san this week, and here are a couple of them:




Charman's mission statement:

“SHAMAN” - the guide leads your way out to
“CHARMAN” - to inspire and bring out your “Charm”.
CHARMAN
Named after the spirit inside us.
Our missions are
to help you find your style to be yourself,
to help you bring out your charm and aura,
and to help you brighten your life and your future.
We will listen to your concerns and understand your desires,
and propose the hair style that matches to you.
Styles do not stay the same, styles change over time.
This is why we are here to offer you a relaxing atmosphere and
build a long-lasting relationship with you.
We hope to spend a precious moment together and create a trusting friendship with each one of you.
We hope we can help you find a fascinating future.
We truly hope so.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Yuichi ENZAKI

Inside the hair salon (picture borrowed from Charman's home page)

Charman also offer other services in addition to haircuts. You can check out their prices on the list below:

By the entrance to the hair salon (picture borrowed from Charman's home page)

● Cut ￥6400〜

● Color ￥8000〜

● Cut & Perm ￥13500〜

● Treatment ￥4000〜

● Head Spa ￥3500〜

● Hair & Make up ￥5600〜

● Yukata ￥3000〜

If you're looking for a nice and oshare (fashionable) hair salon in Tokyo to change your hair style or perhaps to do some modeling you might want to check out their homepage. The hair salon is situated in Dairiyama, which is located on the Tokkyu Toyoko line, only one station away from Shibuya. Good luck!

+CHARMAN+

If you are a westerner living in Asia there is one thing that can be particularly frightening, especially if you're not 100% certain of your language skills. I'm of course talking about getting your hair cut.

After having asked around among other foreign friends here it seemed like Juno hair was the place to go. Even though I'm studying Korean right now my skills aren't too much to brag about, and it was kinda reassuring to hear that Juno hair always has at least one hairdresser who speaks English. In addition it seems that there are Juno hair salons many places in the city, including in Hongdae where I'm currently staying. So it was not a hard choice at all..

I didn't have any reservation, and since it was a Saturday I did worry that I would had to wait. But is seems like I was quite luck, because I did not have to wait at all. It seems that they give student discounts if you are a student, but only if your school is Hongdae university. Bummer. I asked them about discounts for students from Yonsei or Kyunghee, but unfortunately they couldn't offer me that. I did however got a 10% membership discount, along with a free membership card!

The salon looked nice, and my stylist (her name is Shin Chae Hee) and the assistent did a great job. I got a free head massage along with the haircut too! I've added a couple of pictures so you can see how it looks there, and of course a before and after picture of my hair.

Yesterday I had my last photo shoot with Lycée before I move to Korea, and they gave me a CD with photos from my previous photo shoot with them in Osaka a while back. I think that of the four photo shoots I've done for them this far, this is the one with the definitively weirdest photos. Haha.. Anyway, here are some of the (not too weird) shots^^:

I got contacted again by Lycée a little while ago and asked if I wanted to come back and do some more modeling for them. The thing is, this beauty parlor has a number of hair salons in Osaka and Kobe, and are constantly looking for foreigners interested in hair modeling. Here are a couple of pictures from my last session:



And here is Lycée's blogpost about the photo shoot.
As I wrote in my previous post, Lycée is always looking for foreigners who might be interested do modeling for them, so if you happen to be in the area and also are in the need for a free haircut, then you could always contact them through their web page.

During the last month I have had the chance to do a bit of modeling in my spare time: In the beginning of April I had a great day as a model for a wedding company in Kyoto, and I have also been doing some modeling for a beauty salon close to Kobe called Lycée. I got introduced to the owner of the company by one of my friends, who previously had been doing some modeling for them, and it seemed like they were quite interested in foreign models. You get styled up with a wig, which the hairdresser then arrange and cut to fit the style of the photo shoot. Although the modeling in itself is unpaid, participants can receive a free haircut!

It was fun to participate, although I have to admit that the style was quite far from the way I normally would dress up. Unbelievable what a wig and a little makeup can do^^ My friend was styled up really cutely for her pictures, while me on the other hand got a more artistic style. And you know, artistic styles can be.. Rather interesting. Haha.. But they do a lot of different themes for their photos too though, which not necessarily is as artistic as this.

Anyway, Lycée is always looking for foreigners who might be interested do modeling for them, so if you happen to be in the area and also are in the need for a free haircut, then why not.
If you're interested, then you can go ahead and contact them through their web page.

旧御涼亭

One of the many shops with rather special clothes for sale in Takeshita Street.

Takeshita Street

Kawaii (cute) is definitely cool in Harajuku. I'm not quite sure if I think this is cute though.. :p

Harajuku Station on the other hand does actually look quite nice.

Harajuku fashion..(?)

 I did however have another goal with going to Harajuku: I was going to get a haircut! Which actually was my first time to the hairdresser since I came to Japan in September. Before going to Tokyo I had already done some research on the internet about hair salons in town, and found that Chie Funakura-san, who worked at Watanabe Hairdressing, was supposed to be really good with western hair. She was even awarded best hairdresser in Tokyo by the Australian Harper's Bazaar, so I did feel quite secure with my choice. 

My hairstylists Kento Utsubo-san and Chie Funakura-san and me, taken after the haircut.

The address to the salon is Sun Beauty Harajuku B1, 3-25-6 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo. In addition to this their telephone number is 03-5411-5633.

Watanabe Hair Salon

After the haircut it was time to get going again (it was quite a busy day!), and this time my plan was to meet my friends Reiko and Teruko, which were exchange students at my university in Bergen a couple of years ago.
I met them at the Shibuya station, and we went to a cozy place called  Sakuragaoka Cafe (桜丘カフェ), where they in addition to delicious food also had a couple of goats outside the cafe one could feed/look at. I've added some pictures of the restaurant as well:

Outside of the restaurant they had a cage with two cute goats in it.!

Now this is what I call kawaii:))

Me, Teruko and Reiko having dinner at the cafe

The cafe! Nice atmosphere, right? :)

Thanks to Reiko and Teruko for a great evening:D!