Only in New Zealand (part 4)

My gray hair (I know aren't I too young for gray hair?? NOPE, unfortunately not) was a bit much, so I decided to try a new hair lady here in New Zealand. I was a bit nervous to not be sitting Nichole's chair, but was a so tired of seeing the gray hair, so off I went to a salon.

I saw a girl with cute hair and asked her who did her hair. She sent me to Kim at Enjay (conveniently located next to my FAVORITE ice cream shop). With high hopes I walked in and acted like it was no big deal. But really any female knows getting your hair done can be quite traumatic. I sat down and as she talked through what she thought would be best I saw out of the corner of my eye the lady next to me getting a hand massage while her color was processing. HMMMM, I thought maybe this is normal and I will get one of those too. I didn't get my hopes up but a girl can dream, right? Then as Kim was figuring out what color to use on my hair I glance down at her counter and saw: "Enjay Cafe List" Then beneath that was a list of 10 or 12 different drinks to choose from--are they free? Do they offer you drinks like a Maccachino (my favorite coffee in NZ--well if you can call it that, it is more like a hot chocolate with a tad bit of coffee in it) or Late, or a tea and on and on the list went. Hmmmm is this for real?

Kim finished choosing my color and asked me what hot drink I would like her to make for me. I was so stunned I said, "ummm." Yep that is all I said, so smooth, huh? She then said I could just get you a water. I respond with, "yeah that would be great."

We chit chat a bit about my life in LA, her life in NZ and the funny article I was reading about Katherine Heigel. A few minutes later a sweet lady came over to me and said, "Can I offer you a hand massage?" JACKPOT!!! I smile sweetly trying to act not surprised or too ecstatic. While secretly inside I wanted to scream, "YAY I do get one!" I am not gonna lie, though---in my American mind I secretly wondered if I had to pay for this. But decided to put that thought quickly out of my head once my hand massage began.


Then again out of the corner of my eye I notice the lady from before sitting in the chair where they rinse her hair. That isn't too strange, but this is.....it had been like 20 minutes. Hmmmmm was she getting a head massage? I soon found out---

YES SHE WAS AND NOW SO WAS I. But the head massage only came after I sat in the chair to rinse my hair and realized I had just sat down into a massage chair that was massaging me from my toes to my neck. And not only did Kim then give me a head massage for 15 minutes she gently played with my hair. I thought I was going to melt right there in that chair.

Kim finished my hair and did an amazing job! The color was great and she styled it very cute. I was able to take a huge sigh of relief (and text Nichole immediately telling her all was okay in potential hair crisis situation). As I got up to pay her I froze---AGHHH I forgot to ask one of my friends if they tip here in NZ. They don't tip waiters at all here, but do hair dressers get tipped? Well I was so impressed with how great she did I thought I would at least try and tip her. NOPE they don't tip and she got so embarrassed and would not take my money at all. Ooops....

And I paid so little for all of that! She even told me the price and looked at me and said, is that okay? Is that okay---OF COURSE is all I was thinking....you gave me a hand massage, sat me in a massage chair and then gave me a head massage. You could put pink in my hair and I would pay you all over for that experience. I kind of feel like I ripped her off it was so cheap (compared to LA prices).

So since she wouldn't let me tip her and had extra money in my wallet....I wandered over to the ice cream place and got a yummy ice cream.

What a perfect day! And only in NZ do you get all that and have them look at you with surprise that you are surprised by all that you just received--it's just a normal day at the salon for them. Oh how the little things make such a big difference!!