I used to just go to the local barber little hole in the wall near where I lived and paid 60 baht. Not a tourist area, though. My friend and I would both go there and as we liked to do buzz cuts it lasted long enough for us!

My old girlfriend in BKK has owned a few hair salons for the last 10 years or so and one time when she cut my hair she said it was hard as she wasn't used to my hair. She was only used to cutting the hair of other Thais and I guess there is a difference, according to her. I suppose she's used to cuttign hair that's more straight, black and less complicated.

That could be part of the problem.

or the rice bowl they use to cut around

20 years ago in ShangHai, you could get a good haircut on the sidewalk for about 50Baht.  The barber just set up a wooden stool and you could sit and watch all the people pass by.

Maybe someone who is low on funds could try the same thing in Chiang Mai.

Over in South India twas customary to go for a massage and then a shave at the local barbers each morning.

Failure to do so would most certainly leave you well out of the loop.

Those Indians can gossip better than the fishwives of Torry!

Just don't get me started on liberal use of Brut33.