Mash Hair, Tbilisi Style

The before shot.

Step 1: Highlights (my PM waited around for me and had her nails done in the interim)

Step 2: The dye job

Step 4: Too much hairspray (Step 3 was the cut, of which there are no photos)

The after shot.

You know how it goes. Eventually, no matter where you are, you need a hair cut (and, in my case, a little bit of work done to cover up pesky roots). About a week ago, when I realized that I was in need of a little hair love, I sent an email off to my project manager (PM) in Tbilisi to ask her if she had any recommendations of where I might be able to get my hair done (NB: not only is this woman a font of information, but she's damned stylish so I knew she'd be able to point me in the right direction). Of course, she got back to me immediately and said she knew just the place. I let her know when I'd be able to come into Tbilisi and she made an appointment for me.

I showed up to our offices in Tbilisi mid-afternoon on Friday. I didn't know where the salon was, but  our PM had said she'd be able to walk me over because it was quite close, so I wasn't too worried. (Although I'm not sure of the name of the salon, it's somewhere over on Abashidze Street, a few blocks behind and to the left of the Goodwill on Chavchavadze Street.) The salon itself is smoky, small, and fairly anonymous. It's the kind of place I wouldn't even recognize if I walked by as some place where hair magic happens.

The salon is run by two Armenian brothers, and I had the pleasure of being worked on by both of them.  The order of how they worked on my hair was not what I expected, but I figured they knew what they were doing, so I didn't ask. First, came the highlights. Then came a shampoo. Next was the actual dye job (and dye was applied over my entire wet and freshly shampoos & conditioned head, not just the roots). Then, another shampoo. Finally, I had a cut and style. The whole thing took nearly 3 hours and set me back about 100 lari (about $60).

While I was being worked on, other folk filtered in-and-out. One of the brothers left for about 30 minutes while my head was covered in foils, and the other switched back-and-forth between Skypeing family members and playing solitaire. Both shampoos I received were rather uncomfortable (which was a bummer because the shampoo is usually my favorite part of the hair cut experience), and I had a bit too much hairspray applied to my hair (to be fair, any amount of hairspray is usually too much). Perhaps worse of all, when I walked out I reeked of smoke. However, I'm so happy with the final result, I will be back to see them again.