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How to get a Haircut in China 💇🏾♀️ Key Words & Phrases You Should Know
How to get a Haircut in China 💇🏻♂️ Life Lessons with LTL
One of the most common things to do that scares new students at LTL is the dreaded trip to the hairdressers!
How on earth do you go about asking exactly how you want your hair done?
Let’s be frank, it’s not something we want messed up.
We have a picture in our head of how we want to look so what if the language barrier gets in the way…
Fear not – Marie is here to help you go to your Chinese hairdresser armed with all the key phrases you need to get the exact look you are after!
Haircut in Chinese – Hair Length in Chinese
Haircut in Chinese – Hair Colour in Chinese
Haircut in Chinese – Hair Texture in Chinese
Haircut in Chinese – FAQ’s
OH… just before we hand over the reigns to Marie, we wanted to share this video of two of our Shanghai students going to get their haircut in China for the very first time!
If you like it you can follow their 90 Vlog in China as they challenge themselves to learn as much Chinese as possible in 90 days.
OK, take it away Marie…
During your stay in China, you might need to go into a hair salon and interact with the hairdresser to get a haircut in China, or to change your hairstyle.
Explaining to your hairdresser exactly how you want your hair to look can be challenging even when you speak your native language, so…
How to get a haircut in Chinese?
Easy! Read our vocabulary and you won’t go home disappointed!
First of all let’s learn how to describe hair’s length, colour, and texture!
Haircut in Chinese – Hair Length
Let’s keep it simple and describe the main kinds of hair length you’ll likely be using:
One can have:
- short hair 短发 (duǎnfà)
- medium-length hair 中长发 (zhōng cháng fà)
- shoulder-length hair 及肩发 (jí jiān fà)
- long hair 长发 (cháng fà).
So when your hair stylist 发型师 (Fǎxíng shī) or hairdresser 理发师 (lǐfà shī) asks you:
How would you like your hair cut today? 你头发今天想要怎么剪？(Nǐ tóufa jīntiān xiǎng yào zěnme jiǎn?)
Then you can say you want it shorter …
我想要剪短一点 (Wǒ xiǎng yào jiǎn duǎn yīdiǎn), trimmed 修 (xiū) and maybe also layered 层次 (céngcì).
Then, if you also want to get hair bangs you can say 我想要刘海 (wǒ xiǎng yào liúhǎi).
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Chinese Karaoke, also known as KTV, are decorated to be fancy, glitzy, and over the top! The atmosphere is meant to get you excited to sing.
Haircut in Chinese – Hair Colour
Would you like to get your hair coloured? That’s the way you say it in Chinese!
I want to dye my hair 我想染发… (Wǒ xiǎng rǎnfà)…
- platinum blond 亮金色 (liàng jīnsè)
- ash brown 浅棕色 (qiǎn zōngsè)
- auburn 红褐色 (hóng hésè)
- chestnut 栗子色 (lìzǐ sè)
- copper red 红铜色 (hóng tóng sè)
- burgundy 酒红色 (jiǔ hóngsè)
- natural black 自然黑 (zìrán hēi)
- jet black 亮黑色 (liàng hēisè).
PS – you can find out more colours with our complete guide to all the colours in Chinese.
What if you would like to get highlights in your hair?
Easy! 我想挑染! (Wǒ xiǎng tiāo rǎn) 挑 tiāo “to pick” + 染 (rǎn) “to dye”.
Haircut in Chinese – Hair Texture
One can have straight hair 直发 (zhífà), wavy hair 波浪 (bōlàng) or curly hair 卷发 (juǎnfà) (also 卷曲 juǎnqū).
So you might be asked if you would like to have your hair straightened 你想把头发烫直吗? (nǐ xiǎng bǎtóufà tàng zhí ma) or if you want to get a perm 你想烫头发吗? (nǐ xiǎng tàng tóu fà ma).
You might just want to:
- get a shampoo 我只要洗头发 (wǒ zhǐyào xǐ tóu fà)
- have a wash, cut and dry 我想要洗剪吹 (wǒ xiǎng yào xǐ jiǎn chuī)
And finally, how to ask how much is it for your haircut in China?
It’s easy, list all the treatment you got, for example, “wash and set” and ask how much is that all together? 洗+剪吹。。。一共是多少钱？(Yīgòng shì duōshǎo qián?).
Good luck at the hairdressers.
Get practicing and you’ll be a pro in no time!
Haircut in China – FAQ’s
How do you say “hairdresser” in Chinese?
Hairdresser in Chinese is 理发师 (lǐfà shī)
How do you say “short hair” in Chinese?
Short hair in Chinese is 短发 (duǎnfà)
How do you say “I want to dye my hair” in Chinese?
I want to dye my hair in Chinese is 我想染发… (Wǒ xiǎng rǎnfà)…
How do I ask for a “wash, cut and dry” at a hairdressers in China?
To have a wash, cut and dry in a Chinese 我想要洗剪吹 (wǒ xiǎng yào xǐ jiǎn chuī).
How would I ask to have my hair straightened in Chinese?
If you would like to have your hair straightened you should say 你想把头发烫直吗? (nǐ xiǎng bǎtóufà tàng zhí ma)
How do you say “straight hair” in Chinese?
Straight hair in Chinese is 直发 zhí fà
How do you say “Chestnut” (as in the hair colour) in Chinese?
Chestnut in Chinese is 栗子色 (lì zǐ sè)
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