My hair was getting out of control (I always let it get out of control), so I needed to get a hair cut.  There are at least 3000 different places to get your hair cut in Shanghai (I actually don't think that's much of an exaggeration)  I just went to the first one that I saw someone else actually getting a hair cut.  I went in expecting a slightly different experience, because I'd already seen a YouTube clip by some guy that showed the basics of his haircut.  Here's what happened:

First, she put some shampoo in my hair, and then squirted some water in it.  She worked up a good lather, and spent about 20 minutes giving me a very nice scalp massage.  Then she started scrubbing my ears, which is a little weird.  I've never had anyone scrub my ears before.  She took me over to the rinse stations, and rinsed my hair out, then sat me back down in the chair.  On the trip back to the chair, I saw a guy getting a neck massage in the chair.  After I sat back down, the woman asked me "<mandarin> Massage?" and made the hand sign for 6.  Actually, she pronounced it "massajee".  I figured, hey, nice neck & shoulder massage for 6 Yuan!  Sweet!  So after I said "Dui, dui", she led me into a side room that I hadn't noticed.  There were 3 or 4 other people in there getting massages (fully clothed).  So I figured I'd signed up for a full massage for a while.  60 minutes (what the 6 referred to) later, I'd learned the words for eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and hurt (the only one I still remember is "hurt" - tong).  I also learned the name of the woman giving me the massage (Yeng Hai-Xia), and learned that a Chinese massage can leave my neck & shoulders in dire need of a more American style massage.

After the massage, she washed my hair again and delivered me to one of the barbers who did a very good job of cutting my hair.  He hadn't seen my hair before it was washed, so he had no idea how I did it normally, though.  So after I parted my hair the way I've worn it since, um, 1991 (I'm a slave to fashion), he grabbed the blow dryer to finish off the job.  Now in the US at this point, I usually make it clear that I don't put any goo in my hair, but since this guy wasn't offering any goo, I figured I was safe.  Boy was I wrong.  After spending about 6 minutes getting the hair on the front top part of my head to  stick up about 2" above my scalp, he did his best to take the remaining 30 hairs that cover my expanding bald-spot and poof them up to make it look like I'm not quite as balding as I really am.  And he was quite determined.

Anyway, about 2 hours later, 110 Yuan lighter (about $16) I walked in to the apartment and, before Amy could start laughing too much, asked her "How do you say 'Not so poofy!' in Chinese?"