haircut

All massage therapist Abdul Salam Salim wanted was a simple no-frills haircut at a hair salon in Admiralty near his home, only to be told by the barber to leave the place due to a language barrier. 

The 33-year-old recounted his unpleasant experience in a Facebook post on Wednesday (Aug 3), saying that “This is the first time that I felt like I’m a foreigner in my own country.”

Abdul explained in his post that he told the barber at QC House in English that he wanted a simple haircut but was allegedly refused by the barber, a Chinese national who “die die keep telling me to speak Chinese with him [sic]”. 

“He kept saying something about hua yu [Mandarin], and his body language was quite aggressive,” Abdul told AsiaOne. 

“When I entered the shop, he didn’t look very happy. He kept gesturing ‘no’ and kept asking me to leave.” 

Abdul said in his post that he tried to communicate with the barber in simple English, telling him to “just cut [his hair] short”, even going to the extent of showing him reference photos. 

Despite his attempts to get his point across, he was still asked to leave the shop, much to his chagrin.

Undeterred, Abdul stood his ground and said he eventually got the barber to trim his mane, albeit with the latter doing so with a “black face”. 

“Everyone deserves to be treated equally in this country, and I will not let any foreigner bully the locals, that’s why I chose to be firm with him,” Abdul told AsiaOne, when asked why he still insisted on getting his haircut there despite the behaviour of the barber. 

Abdul said he paid $10 for his haircut which he described as “okay” as he’s not fussy. 

At the time of writing,