IT is a nondescript hair salon on a forsaken corner of Chinatown in New York City. Open daily from 9.30am to 8pm, it offers services like haircut for US$8 (RM26), colouring for US$25 (RM84) and, according to its signage, “shave only US$8”.
A flight of stairs leads one to the smallish salon. With its TV set, a stand fan and Mandarin numbers cooing from a karaoke player, the shop is a reminder of the ubiquitous “kedai dandan rambut” in any Malaysian town.
There are exceptions, though. This one has a TV camera to monitor people coming up the staircase.
“And have you ever been to a hair salon that has not a single strand of hair on the floor?” whispered “Mr X”, a businessman who patronises the shop quite regularly.
There are just three seats meant for customers. But walk further inside the shop and there are 10 cubicles to service clients seeking a massage or a facial for US$50 to US$60 (RM168 to RM201) an hour. Sauna rooms are available, too.
On a recent visit, the three chairs were empty. But there was the occasional glimpse of a male customer wrapped in a bath towel, having just completed a massage session.
Mr X feels there's more than meets the eye. Once, he saw about a dozen girls at the salon. They were mostly from Fuzhou, China, and Malaysia, he said.
Nevertheless, he asserted that he patronised the saloon “strictly for a facial or a massage”.
“There is no hanky-panky at the shop itself because it would be shut down by the authorities if there were,” Mr X said.
Any arrangement, he believed, was strictly between the client and the girl.
One of the shop co-owners made it clear there were no shady dealings going on at the salon. The shop has a business licence to operate as a hair salon.
“Nobody fools around here,” said the 39-year-old woman, who is known by her moniker “Fei Mooi” (Cantonese for fat girl). She is by no means plump, but can be described as voluptuous.
Fei Mooi, who hails from Pusing, Perak, is an unmarried mother of two teenagers. Her children are in Malaysia, being cared for by their grandmother.
Her life has been a series of struggles. “I started working when I was 13, as a shampoo girl.”
She came to the United States 18 years ago, barely speaking or reading English.
Gradually, she picked up the spoken language. For the past eight years, she has been working at the hair salon, which employs about 10 women from Malaysia.
“We get many regular customers here. It is a place so familiar to them that they treat it like home.
“And yes, women do come here to get their hair done,” she added, as though to dispel the notion that only male customers frequent the hair salon.
The last time Fei Mooi went home was in 1993. Her parents dissuaded her from returning for good, believing that life in America was inherently better.
Fei Mooi has an American boyfriend, but she expressed no interest in marrying although they had been dating for seven years.
“Why get married? I am happy with my life. There is no one to control me,” she added.
She declined to tell more about her boyfriend, whom she met at a karaoke joint, merely saying that he works for the government and that he is 12 years older than her.
She works seven days a week, seldom going out for leisure.
“You need money to jalan-jalan,” she pointed out.
Besides, she is too tired by the time she gets home from work.
“Sometimes, I can’t sleep because my hands hurt from all the work that I do during the day,” said Fei Mooi, who wants nothing else in life than to be left in peace to earn a living.
Like her, the other women in the salon were friendly, bidding you a warm goodbye as you leave.
“Going off now? Come and have tea with us next time,” one of them chirped.
“Generally, Malaysians here are law-abiding people,” consul-general Mohamad Sadik Gany said, when contacted.
He has not received any reports from US authorities about Malaysians being involved in illegal activities or vice, he said, but acknowledged, however, that no one knows what goes on behind closed doors.
