No. of Recommendations: 3
Jim: Follow the haircuts and soap.
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Admittedly, in support of his hypotheses, I don't think I have purchased a bar of soap in a couple of decades (not because I don't wash, but because I travel enough that I end up "acquiring" all I need along the way :-).
That said, I find that, world-wide, the cost of a man's haircut is generally about the same as the minimum end of the average wage in that city/country. When I was a kid, it was well under 10 bucks (exactly how much is lost in the fogs of time. Nowadays, in "immigrant" neighborhoods in NYC, it runs about $15-$17, around where I live, about $35-$50 and in posher neighborhoods is more related to the rent than the wages.
My favorite haircut story is: I was wandering through Singapore when I saw a sign on a barber shop window: "Men's Hair Cut $20" (those were Singapore bucks). So I went in and the young barber gave me a decent cut for what I thought was a bargain price. Then he asked if I wanted my beard trimmed and I said "sure". He started cutting it one hair at a time and kept asking if he was hurting me. I asked if he had ever trimmed a beard before and he said that I was his first as none of his customers had one. I explained that he could cut it the same as he did head hair" and not to worry. On another trip, I went to a Syrian barber shop in Germany and got a hair cut. When it was over, he asked if I wanted "barbering". After a bit of confusion (as the request seemed bizarrely redundant), it turned out he was asking if I wanted my beard trimmed (at which point it dawned on be that Barbarossa was known as "Red Beard" and for my entire life until then I had been misinterpreting the word Barber).
Women seem to have less correlation. We tend to travel for months and every four weeks or so, my wife goes in for a touch-up of her paint job (please don't tell her I put it that way :-). Anyhow, if we are going by ship, the on-board salons charge a considerable amount of their dubious results, so I generally do some research and make appointments in advance in ports we intend to stop in. While I fully expect the prices quoted, say in Norway, to be high, for some reason, Australia takes the lead (recently, I've been quoted $100-$160 AUD for a service that my wife pays about $25 USD in NYC).
Jeff
