The Experience Of A Lifetime At The Barber Shops Of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam
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Saigon's Barber Shops
If you have never had the pleasure of visiting one of Saigon's barber shops, this is one for your bucket list. These shops mainly cater to men, although it is not what you might think. You might have heard that these barber shops are a front for houses of prostitution, and I have read that in the past they may have been. This is certainly not the case
today in Ho Chi Minh
City. If you come across a barber shop in Saigon that is filled with 10-20 beautiful young girls wearing uniforms and looking like airline hostesses, I suggest that you go in and investigate. The girls are very friendly and they treat you like a rock star (no they are not prostitutes). You can have a shave or a haircut, a manicure, pedicure, and I would recommend finishing off with the massage. This might sound a
little expensive, you would be amazed at how affordable it is to be pampered by beautiful women in Saigon. This kind of royal treatment in your home country is probably normally reserved for the rich and famous,
or professional athletes and rock stars!
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Location
You can find these shops all over the Pham Ngu Laos district in Ho Chi Minh
City, just walk a few blocks away from the park and go toward the Ben Thanh Market. When you come across one of these shops, it will be obvious, it will be like nothing you have ever seen before. If you are not sure you are in the right place, then you probably are at the wrong spot, the shops I am talking about are very obvious once you have seen them. I have spoken to the locals and they tell me that this style of barber shop exists all over Vietnam. If you can not find a barber shop, you can get similar services at any of the steam bath, sauna and massage
establishments.
Prostitution
Prostitution is illegal in Vietnam, and unlike Thailand and other countries in South East Asia, it is strictly enforced. You have to sign documents when you check into a hotel that state that you will not use the services of a prostitute, and that prostitutes will be strictly forbidden to enter the hotel. The massage shops and barber shops are also very careful not to break the law, so the do not offer the services
of prostitutes. Most of the girls working in the massage and barber shops are very interested in western men, and would dream of marrying or
dating a western man. In my experience, none of them are interested in casual sex for money.
Massage
The massage services at the barber shops is wonderful, and the cost is anywhere from 5-10USD per hour. The girls seem to take the job very seriously, and they all seem to put maximum effort into giving a great massage. The shops normally have private rooms above the barber shop, and clean, sanitary facilities for shower after your massage. I believe that the girls may work strictly for tips, so they all expect a tip of at least 5USD for an hour massage, and in my opinion that is good value.
Shave & Haircut
I like to have a shave or a haircut prior to going in for a massage at the barber shop, this gives me a chance to chat with the girls first and
find one that I get along well with. The cost of a haircut or a shave is only a few dollars, and the shave is a close shave with a straight razor. Normally they have a male barber that does all the shave and haircuts, and I understand that these guys also work strictly for tips. It is expected to tip a dollar or two to the barber as well.
Manicure & Pedicure
These services are also very affordable at these shops, again only a dollar or two. It is common to have one girl doing your hands and another doing your feet. They soak your nails for a while and then treat
them with disinfectant, prior to cutting them. They also offer to clean
your ears and wax removal, as well as trimming your nose hair and anything else you might need done. This may not appeal to everyone, but it is great value for people that normally would never experience this.
CommentsLoading...
Don't kid yourself! There is a lot of sex going on in these barbershops. It might not be a straight up brothel, but it is adult male entertainment. The girls do more than just massage and haircuts!
Vietnam Vet,
Maybe you went to a different barber shop than I did?
Useful information, thanks
u have one?
Great hub, it is good that you had the experience because as the say " Experience is the best teacher".
@crystolite,
I am glad you enjoyed it, and yes I agree that experience is the greatest teacher. I strongly suggest you give this a try if you ever have a chance to travel to Vietnam.
Iv'e always wanted to go to Vietnam and a barber shop there is now on my to do list for sure. Some of the women in that vid are stunners!
Denial is not just a river in Egypt. You'd have to be stupid to not know that these salons are front for prostitution. Even the video clearly shows it. The girls taking some guy up to a small room, with a hand towel, grabbing his groin in the elevator if you look, and the room clearly shows small bed and another girl to clean.
@Bob,
Prostitution is illegal, I don't know what you are talking about!
I did a book review on a book written by a barber, and made a Hub. That led me to this Hub. This was really interesting. I'm sending my friends the link to this one. She'll get a kick out of it.
"not a front for prostitution"?? Funniest thing I have ever read. IT may not be out ion the open straight up sex, but if the girls are dressed in skimpy skirts and their is funky music playing, that "babrber shop" is in the game believe me!
SaigonMan,
I am interested to hear the dirty details from a sex tourist who knows what he is talking about? From what I understood, these barber shops operated as brothels in the past, and have since been forced to clean up the services they offer? Do you know something that I don't?
My husbands best friend just got back from Vietnam on friday and all he can talk about is his time at the "barbershop" and all of the men at work who are Vietnamese agree telling my husbands he needs to go with his friend next time.. you are full of it and you know it!
Yes I think your husband should definatelty go to the barbershop!
Been to all these there's basically to type of brothels fake haircut places where when you look on you only see a front desk. But when you walk in you see the girls in the back pay 200k (10$) at the front desk to rent a bed. Pick the girl go to the room get a blowjob tip her 100k(5$) go home.(can't have sex there if she likes you she'll give you her number) and you just call her to a hotel. These shops pay off the police so they don't get shutdown. The place this article is talking about is the prettier high class prostitutes. Basically what you do is during the massage you compliment her and talk about how hot she looks. What I did was changed the channel to a fashion show on tv and told her she was hotter then those chicks. Most important thing to do tip her 500k(25$) basically this shows your willing to pay her 5X the average tipper and tell her you want to go out tonight get her number . Many guys ask these girls out but the guys who tips the most will get her time . So basically you spend 850k (42.50$) at the shop average is 450k hair wash and massage cost 350k VIP tip and the rest is tip. These girls are paid by tip. I came in at 8pm cuz message and hair wash is 1-2 hour and they finish at 9-10pm. So after my massage gave her a huge tip and told her lets go eat. When you tip her show her you have money take out a big stack of around 3mil(150$) she will go with u for sure. She knows what's up so you can either go eat and then go to a hotel or go to a hotel straight up. I was hungary
Just arrived into HCMC and staying at a hotel near Ben Thanh Market. Passed by a few barber shops and yeah the women inside are beautiful. Had a hard time keeping my jaw shut. And then my girlfriends slaps me back to reality. Well after reading your hub at least I know what goes on inside since I won't be able to step foot in one =D
@ E C, there is probably a little more going on that what I mentioned in the hub, but I will have to plea the fifth on knowing anything about that!
Yeah Barber Shops..How come none of them have sissors
Maybe you came down in the last shower
@Ned,
I actually did get a haircut in one once .. you should have seen the look on their face! You want a what? A haircut? They had to call in a taxi driver off the street, because none of the girls knew how to do a crew cut. LMFAO ..
LMFAO, this article about the these 'barber shops' is one of the funniest articles I've read in ages. I just about spat my coffee all over my keyboard when I went to TravelInAsia's profile page where it says 'Jesse has established a reputation as someone who tackles the most controversial topics, and isn't afraid to "tell it like it is".' Haaaaahaha, PRICELESS!
Im here now and my Vietnamese friends have been pointing out just how many places are a front. It's pretty sad when you see what they are prepared to do to survive.
It seems that my readers are a little disappointed that I don't tell stories of shagging the girls in the back of these barber shops, but that simply wasn't my experience. I think the fact that anyone would be disapointed by that says a lot more about them than it does about me.
Then somebody who claims to be "here now", offering comments on what people are prepared to do to survive? I suppose you won't learn a lot about that by standing outside in the street and hearing stories and drawing conclusions. If you just look around and do a little homework, you will likely learn that the Vientamese will do a lot more to survive than Americans will, and that is why the USA got sent home with their tails between their legs in the Vietnam War. I am sure they don't appreciate you feeling sorry for them, in fact you better watch out, I think somebody just stole your purse.
OMG, how did you know my purse got stollen? That is just freaky, now you are scaring me. I hope you didn't have anything to do with it?
You are an idiot, and that is what happens to idiots in Saigon .. it was an easy call.
Find MaxiMart on Duong Cong Hoa. Walk down Thang Long and take the first left. You will find several of these "Barber Shops" full of cute Vietnamese. Full service for one hour 650,000 (150,000 to Momma 500 for your girl). This street is one of the best kept secrets in HCMC IMHO Been working here more than one year
Pro Hobo 16 months ago
Good read!
Probably the best salon in the world :)