Laundry, Haircuts, and Intangible Power

The Yangtze River in Yunnan, China. Site of below-mentioned haircut.

I have a thing with laundry. I am learning this about myself. I’ve found going to laundromats an ecstatic blank space of traveling. I get amazing ideas. I write essays. I buzz with electric contentment. It’s truly a pleasure to sit in the blank in between space that is a foreign country laundromat. In SE Asia you usually take off your shoes. Sometimes you can get a coffee. And then it’s just you and the sweet waiting time.

That being said, many places in southeast Asia don’t have laundromats. Instead, laundry = a lady who washes, sun dries, and folds your clothes. You pay by the kilo. I have used this service a lot, whenever self service isn’t available, and it’s all been pretty good.

In Da Nang Vietnam, I found a laundry lady on Google maps and I just…had a good feeling. She was located in an alley off a side street and as she came out to meet me my intuitive hit got stronger. I don’t know how else to say it other than she seemed like she loved doing laundry. Like, some laundry ladies do it cause it’s an easy side hustle. Or they’re in a tourist area. Awesome, get it. But I just got the feeling this lady did laundry cause she fucking like doing it. She got off on making clean things dirty/ Her heart was in it, you know? You could tell from her shop, her demeanor. It was at least a small part of her “thing”. I don’t know if running  a laundry service is her high dream, but Anyway. That was my intuitive hit and when we picked up our laundry later that day, let me tell you, I was confirmed in my suspicion. My laundry has never been done so well. I feel like my clothes were standing up straighter, like they felt respected and pampered and treated well.  They had an aura. She buttoned every shirt before folding it. They were immaculate. They glowed. My clothes were done by a laundry angel. And then I got to wear them! It made me feel…better. I will think about this lady and forever wish I could give her my laundry.

Then my thoughts turn to Tony, the guy who cut my hair in a rural Yunnan village in China. I am sure Tony was not his real Chinese name. But he went by Tony. Our host asked us if we needed haircuts, because Tony gave “the best haircuts in the world”. I thought it was a hyperbole, but no. Tony gave me the best haircut of my life for less than $5. He reminded me of the laundry lady because something about cutting hair was Tony’s calling. He worked with a mastery that seemed to emanate from him. He did things with a blow dryer I have never seen before. And more importantly, you could tell he fucking loved it. He cut my hair in such a way that I glowed. Like…my hair was cut by a hair angel. I was transformed. To be touched by someone living in their calling is an honor. You can feel it.

I’ve been thinking about Tony and the laundry lady, and how when I see someone doing something that resonates with a deeper truth for them, it makes it immediately sexy. Idk if you’ve ever experienced this. Like seeing someone in their element and being like - oh damn why didn’t I realize how fun and intriguing and delightful being an auto mechanic is?? Maybe I should be a mechanic?? And the truth is no, I should not be an auto mechanic. But someone working in their lane elevates whatever they’re doing into a thing of beauty.

And it transforms you to be touched by someone in their power and purpose. Is Tony’s “purpose” cutting hair? I think that’s a simplified, capitalism drenched underlying definition of purpose. I think we want purpose to be a job or career that’s tangible. But my opinion is that maybe that power that runs through him could moreso be equated with “seeing and uncovering someone’s beauty”.

I don’t have a neat and tidy conclusion to this, just an observation and appreciation of witnessing people living with power running through them. And a recognition of the way it touches and transforms anyone in contact with it. I think it’s amazing.