Trying to make conversation with the person cutting your hair can sometimes be an awkward experience. To limit the spread of COVID-19 in Japan, a “silent cut” service was first offered at a Tokyo salon during the pandemic.
The silent cut allowed patrons and hairdressers to both stay silent and forgo any small talk while the haircut was being completed. Less talking meant fewer risks of spreading the virus via saliva droplets and despite not being normal for haircuts, the service caught on.
It turns out, customers aren’t the only ones that prefer the silent treatment. Hairstylists enjoy the silent cut as well, with many claiming that they were taught to talk with clients during their training.
“I started chatting because I was taught in my early days to ‘talk to customers and get information about their preferences’ but focusing on topics that I didn’t like made me feel very uncomfortable so I decided to put their privacy first,” one hairstylist said.
The service has proven to be popular enough to stick around, even after the pandemic-related restrictions were lifted. “It’s great! I’ve been waiting for this service for 20 years. Because chatting is so depressing, I only get a haircut every three years,” one person wrote about the service.
Source: https://youtu.be/2nO8doL6bBU