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I have been living in Japan now for the last 3 months and my hair is starting to look like it needs a cut. But I have never been to a Japanese barbers before so as you can imagine I am a little nervous about it.

I have a couple of questions about getting your hair cut in Japanese:

What are common/useful words/phrases that can be used when getting your haircut?

Specifically it would be nice to know how to say I want certain parts of my hair a certain length.

Aside from those two specific things are there any other useful phrases, words or anything else that would be useful to learn before going to the barbers in Japan?

Lucas
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    The second part is not about language. But it will depend on the barber. They will try to talk to you, it they can find something to talk about. Sometimes they also got nervous talking to a foreigner :) And the barber I went in Japan has picture book of various different hair styles. You can just pick one out. The barber would take appointment, but for the place I went it is OK to just walk in. They don't have that many customers there :) – fefe Jan 09 '12 at 13:51
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    Don't be frightened if he starts massaging you. – Louis Waweru Jan 09 '12 at 14:24
  • @fefe Thank you for your comment! I will have to see what they do in the barbers around here but any information I can get to mentally prepare myself is always good :) I hated going to the barbers even in England. – Lucas Jan 09 '12 at 15:18
  • @Louis Thanks for the information - I would certainly be surprised if that happened without me knowing about it beforehand. – Lucas Jan 09 '12 at 15:18
  • From experience you're better off just taking a picture of someone with the hairstyle you want. Most salons have such catalogues to browse while you wait, so the only japanese you really need is 'this' :) – NibblyPig Jan 09 '12 at 16:46

1 Answers1

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Thin it out. すいてください。
Thin out this part. このあたりを、すいてください。
I want this part this long. ここを、このくらいの[長]{なが}さにしてください。
Keep the front. [前]{まえ}[髪]{がみ}を[残]{のこ}してください。
Take about 1 centimeter off my bangs. [前]{まえ}[髪]{がみ}を1センチくらい[切]{き}ってください。
Shorten it in back by about 5 centimeters. [後]{うし}ろを5センチくらい[切]{き}ってください。
Trim a little more. もう[少]{すこ}し[切]{き}ってください。
Trim this part a little more. このあたりを、もう[少]{すこ}し[切]{き}ってください。
Can you make it look like this photo?　この[写]{しゃ}[真]{しん}のようにしてください。/こんなふうにしてください。
Can I make an appointment for a haircut. カットの[予]{よ}[約]{やく}をしたいのですが。
How much is it for just a simple cut? カットはいくらですか。
How much is it for a cut and shampooing? カットとシャンプーだといくらですか。
How long will it take? どのくらいかかりますか。

Hmm...what else?

  • I'm not a linguistics guy, but can the verb すく (I assume you are using the verb 空く) be used this way? It seems to me that this is an intransitive verb, so this usage seems strange to me. I associate this verb with the meaning of 'to be empty, or sparce'. i.e. 電車が空いた（でんしゃがすいた） would be 'the train is not crowded' or of course おなかが空いた is 'hungry', or lit. 'my belly is empty'. To thin out hair, I would suggest 「[薄]{うす}くする」 as in 「[全体的]{ぜんたいてき}に薄くしてください」 'make all of it thinner' or something like that. – dbassett Jan 09 '12 at 17:12
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    @dbassett Your assumption is wrong. The すく here is the transitive verb 梳く, not the intransitive verb 空く. They have different accents. 梳く is "SUku" (high low) whereas 空く is "suKU" (low hight). If you hadn't known this verb, then you shouldn't argue about it. –  Jan 09 '12 at 18:58
  • @sawa 髪を梳く means to comb or untangle hair, not to thin, so I think my comment/suggestion is still valid. – dbassett Jan 09 '12 at 20:11
  • Hmm??? I can't find the word すく as 'to thin out' in my dictionary, but I don't know any other way of saying it... Maybe it's slang? –  Jan 09 '12 at 22:42
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    Maybe these will help^^ http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1436572239 http://questionbox.jp.msn.com/qa875672.html http://q.hatena.ne.jp/1127136632 –  Jan 09 '12 at 23:17
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    @Chocolate It is not a slang, it is ordinary Japanese ... –  Jan 09 '12 at 23:20
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    笑！嫌味にしか聞こえへん～ww お返事ありがとうございます！^^ –  Jan 09 '12 at 23:26
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    @Chocolate 関西の方でしたか。それなら、`梳く`と `空く` のアクセントが私の書いたのとは逆かも知れませんね。 –  Jan 09 '12 at 23:36
  • Thank you for the answer and all of the comments everyone. It's been very helpful! – Lucas Jan 10 '12 at 04:00
  • @sawa I did a check against dictionary.goo and jmdict and indeed they do not reflect the use of 梳く for "thinning out (hair)". Is this a case of a dictionary not reflecting all senses of the word? Or is the sense implicit i.e. derived from an alternate understanding of the dictionary's description? (The mental image I have is: As hair is being combed, loose hairs are pulled away and tangled hairs may break and come loose. The result after combing is "thinner hair") – Flaw Jan 10 '12 at 07:13
  • @Flaw If what you checked is correct, then they don't list all meanings. Your image is close to the relevant meaning here, but instead of using a comb, you can rub the edge of a paris of scissors against hair, and pull it down. The hairs are not pulled away, but are actually cut by the blade, which is pressed against hair in perpendicular angle. The English word `cut` does not fit this motion, though, because this motion is not like holding the scissors in a fixed position and narrowing the two blades. Therefore, the editors of those dictionaries probably avoided the word `cut`. –  Jan 10 '12 at 07:20
  • @sawa I guess it works because not all hairs are being broken when this method is used as compared to narrowing the two blades (which would almost always guarantee all hairs breaking at the line where the blade is). The effects would be entirely different of course, the former thins the hair while the latter cuts it to a specific length. – Flaw Jan 10 '12 at 07:41
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    Seeing is believingと言いますので… Have a look at 'スキバサミ'. http://blog-imgs-32.fc2.com/y/u/l/yulring/20090928HiarCut01.jpg –  Jan 10 '12 at 08:10
  • @Chocolate. I did some research and apparently it can also be done with regular blades (not perforated). – Flaw Jan 10 '12 at 10:15
  • Ah, yes when I go for a haircut they use blades, not すきばさみ. I use すきばさみ to thin out my own bangs. --I did't imagine this thread would grow so long, can't believe we've been talking about just one single verb... We must be such obsessed language otakus... –  Jan 11 '12 at 21:34
  • @sawa There does seems to be some confusion about this use of すく: http://oshiete.goo.ne.jp/qa/6307695.html. And for what it's worth, my dictionary (KENKYUSHA新ポケット和英辞典) lists LH as the pitch for 梳く, which is also how I would say it. My dictionary and I have been wrong before, though, so I'll try asking some 標準語 speakers. – dainichi Jun 15 '12 at 08:01