Family : Barbers and Hair Cuts in Sibu

Many young children have been known to be afraid of having their hair cut.

My brother Hsiung was one such child. After he was  able to walk, whenever he saw my mother taking out a pair of hair scissors, he would hide some where my mother could not find him,

But when his hair was too long, my mother would cut a bit of his hair when he was asleep and it would take her days to get his hair cut..he looked terrible!

When we moved to Sibu, we found a barber my brother could trust and by then he was already about 3 years old. We would remember his bad hair cut for years. My mum was exasperated by the situation.





My brother was such a nice looking handsome boy, fair, healthy and plump, the pride of my grandfather and father. He was well dressed too but he had bad hair cuts. Mum was definitely embarrassed.

The barber was Mr. Lo Yew San, whose barber shop was near the Bus Terminal,between Blacksmith and Market Roads, in those days. It was a small back shop. Mr, Lo was the brother of my mother's good friend Mrs. Kang, whom we all called Aunty. She made a lot of money selling eggs and was famous for being able to cycle miles and miles with eggs in her baskets. She was well loved by all too. Mr. Kang was a local headman of Tanjong Kunyit, who was well respected.

Mr. Lo was must have a kind of aura which endeared my brother to him. He would place my brother on a plank on the arm rests of his barber chair and he would then slowly clip away his hair.

Hair cutting session for my small brother must have taken a long time, one snip at a time. But Mr. Lo did a fine job. He was proud of his handiwork.

All barbers must study child psychology.

In later years I too realise that many popular hair dressers have good listening ears. It was no wonder that many Foochow women needed to "do" their hair once a week.

There must be a lot of trust between you and your hairdresser/barber.