La Passion is a midrange, established hair salon. While they do everything, we’ll focus here on their mens hair care, which comprises the basic haircut, shave and optional head massage. On Foursquare they swear by the head massage (ask for Saman apparently) but I don’t like people touching my head. I used to go to La Passion all the time but I’ve since given up on haircuts entirely, choosing to just buzz myself at home.
This has problems of course. I get hair everywhere, the back of my head grows long, and I end up with inch-long tufts hidden behind my ears. Sometimes you do need someone that isn’t attached to your head to trim it. So I finally caved into… La Passion.
How’s the cut? For me it’s just a number, number 2 clippers, and then a beard trim. This is hard to mess up but many barbers do (giving a fade or something I didn’t want). La Passion at least doesn’t fail in that simple regard. I’ve found, however, if you go for anything more complicated, they veer towards the usual ‘short at the back and sides’ without thinking. The place also isn’t as cheap as it used to be. A haircut is Rs. 400, Rs. 500 with shampoo. A beard trim is Rs. 250. I remember when you used to be able to get the whole deal for Rs. 200, and in some streetside salons you still can.
La Passion, however, distinguishes itself in that it’s open late, it has professional equipment and premises, and the venerable head massage. I don’t like people touching me so I avoided that, but it costs Rs. 300. I have had the head massage before and it’s nice enough, made me feel sleepy.
La Passion is a simple, reliable hair salon for men trying to look respectable. For me, however, I’d rather getting a cheaper shave and a haircut at the hole in the walls in my hood. The difference in quality between a Rs. 300 haircut/shave and one that costs Rs. 650 is negligible.
