Mainland Follies: Unhappy customer wrestles barber into chair, shaves his head

We’ve all experienced the sinking feeling that comes when the barber’s chair swivels around to bring you face-to-face with a truly godawful haircut.

While most of us react with silent panic and hasty mental calculations as to how long, for the love of God, will it take to grow out, one Chongqing man took revenge, wrestling his hairdresser into a chair and turning his own clippers against him.

CCTV footage of the incident, which took place on March 31, was first posted onto mainland video news site Pear Video yesterday.

In the video, the customer in blue, surnamed Chen, can be seen waving his phone around inside the barber shop, telling a woman in red “this is what I wanted,” before turning to the hairdresser, surnamed Li, and telling him to look at the photo again.

He then moves towards Li, grabs his arm and says: “Come here, I’ll give you a haircut.”

During the tussle, Chen can be heard yelling “come here!” and “sit down!” before eventually forcing Li into a chair. Li, either in an act of contrition or fearing further violence in a room full of sharp objects, stops resisting as Chen begins to shave his head with electric clippers while onlookers watch from outside.

Fortunately for Li, the video cuts before we can see the result.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eHphA2Syvk

Chen was subsequently arrested, and the Pear Video clip includes a portion of a police interview with Chen, who says: “I forced him to sit in a chair, he tried to get away but I pulled him back into the seat.”

The outlet said Chen has been detained by police amid an ongoing investigation.

Online reactions to the incident were mixed, with some praising Chen and sharing their own haircut horror stories, while others criticized him for being too heavy-handed.

“He did what every one of us wanted to do but wouldn’t dare in that situation,” one commenter said.

Another presented the video as a warning to all barbers.

“I hope other hairdressers will watch this video and see that not all customers will stand for [bad haircuts], and not everyone will let them off easily.”

In some corners, however, cooler heads prevailed.

“This is too much; if you’re not happy with a haircut you can negotiate, no need to be violent,” one commenter noted.

Another, meanwhile, noted that the man’s outburst could have had an unintended effect: “The guy probably went to prison and the police gave him an even worse haircut.”