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| - I just accompanied some family members to T.D. Modern, and have to say that I found it kind of wickedly hilarious. It's a small, privately run salon that offers haircuts for kids and adults, coloring, perms, updos, waxing, manicures and pedicures, and makeup service.
The place smells distinctly of nail polish remover, hair spray, and chemicals. It's run and operated by a bevy of older Vietnamese and Chinese ladies wearing a mix of adorable Asian-Canadian fashions. They have exuberant conversations in accented English and excited Cantonese with their patrons - generally gossip about their families and "the old country". The clientele appears to consist largely of older immigrants, their young, surly, first-gen kids (whose style is still dictated by their parents' idea of affordable haircuts), and cackling, good natured old biddies (like my grandma) getting their monthly perm and color.
As mentioned above, the place is small, with only four hairstyling chairs and a small backroom area - which, I assume, is where they handle the waxing. Their prices are really good for their services ($15-22 for a basic women's' cut, $11-14 for men; highlights starting at $35), but they're not exactly cutting edge. The hair magazines are largely from the eighties, and maybe some from the early nineties. They've of course got your modern Vogues to read as well, but they're interspersed with promotional materials for old school Chinese operas.
As a fashion-conscious, semi-vain twenty-something, I can't say that I would ever come here for my own purposes, but I do have a huge soft spot for establishments like these. They always remind me of getting haircuts with my mum while in my tweens, and thus fill me with equal parts nostalgia and annoyance.
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