About a month after I moved to Japan in college, my hair was getting pretty shaggy, so I asked my host dad where I could get a trim. The place he took me to was an old-school barbershop, and I remember being surprised when instead of using electric clippers on the back of my neck, the barber used a straight razor.
Still, that wasn’t nearly as big as the shock some customers get when they walk into this hairdresser’s in Vietnam and see the stylist slicing people’s hair with a Japanese sword.
It’s easy to tell Nguyen Hoang Hung has a sense of style, as he goes about his business in a blazer and fashionably chunky-framed glasses. His oversized ring, red-tinged hair, and leopard-print shirt aren’t his only flamboyant flairs, though.
That’s Nguyen getting set to give a client a trim using a Japanese sword, and it’s not something he just busts out for the dramatic finish either.
The hairstylist first hit upon the idea of using samurai weaponry to make women look fabulous four years ago, when he entered a contest in which participants had to give haircuts without using scissors. At that time Nguyen opted for a saw, but later thought it would be an even more interesting challenge to use a sword.
Since then, Nguyen has been honing his skills, and as seen in the video, he’s gotten pretty used to working with the unconventional tools for his trade. He now even boasts that using the sword is easier for him than ordinary scissors, and has gotten comfortable enough to add extraneous bits of flash such as twirling the sword or simultaneously wielding a blade in each hand like he’s the reincarnation of 17th century swordsman Miyamoto Musashi.
There haven’t been any reports of Nguyen losing his grip on the sword or a customer losing their head. Still, it must be a pretty tense experience for whoever’s sitting in the chair, as shown by this woman’s expression.
And it can’t be much less scary for those watching, as on several occasions it looks like Nguyen is getting ready to murder someone.
It’s all smiles once the job is done, though, and the growing number of customers who request he use his swords prove there’s a market for hairstylists who can provide a show, and some thrills, along with a nice cut.
Source, screenshots: YouTube
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