How important is it for Asians to get haircuts from Asian barbers? For many living abroad the answer would be VERY IMPORTANT. The qualities of an individual’s hair can vary greatly from person to person, and it is commonly said Asian hair has different qualities to say Caucasian hair. That is why in recent years, classic barbershops have made an unprecedented comeback for Asian Americans.
 

With a prolific tradition in specialized men’s barbershops in Hong Kong, Mark Lau, son of one of the most representative & celebrated barbers, Master Lau from Oi Kwan Barber’s (since 1962); has succeeded his late father’s business and rejuvenated its brand with a mission to establish a sub-culture for Asians by integrating classic barber techniques with modern male grooming products from Japan, presenting a new fusion of the barbershop experience for Asians. Following his further study at a barber school in KOBE, Japan, Mark started a new shop with a broader vision in 2017, aimed at middle-class customers over the world. “Asians deserve to enjoy specialized barber services not limited to local style e.g. Cantonese or Shanghainese, but for Asians in general.” Mark said. Paying tribute to his father, he spent months preserving the signature of his shop: a vintage barber chair with over half a century of history. 

In the latest Part 2 of the series namely “The Present”, Mark explains how he rejuvenated the brand with a mission to establish a sub-culture for Asians by integrating classic barber techniques with modern male grooming products from Japan, presenting a new fusion of the barbershop experience for Asians. 

 
By sharing the same vision of preserving Asian heritage to the globe, DotAsia is proud to collaborate with Oi Kwan Barber’s to fly up high across Asia! Please visit http://oikwanbarbers.asia for further details and stay tuned with Mark’s stories in part 1 & 2 on our DotAsia channels.
 
 

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Top 10: Asian superstitions

Like many other Asians, I grew up in a traditional household and my elders – from my grandmother to my mom (to think of it, maybe it was just the women) are highly superstitious. They told me the craziest things! I didn’t want to believe in them, but I wasn’t going to take any chances so I followed those rules. To this day, even though I still don’t believe in those superstitions, I catch myself passing them onto my own daughter. At the very least, they ARE an excellent way to get her to follow rules.

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Top 10: Superfoods

I started falling in love with concept of “food as medicine” since my childhood when I was inspired by “The Huangdi Neijing” (a.k.a The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine 黃帝內經). Later when I started exploring more from the school library, I found that the Greek physician Hippocrates, known as the Father of Early Medicine (ca. 460 BC – ca. 370 BC) had suggested the same concept around the same period of time. He stated “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” This has become my creed of life as eating right is really important! Here are my top 10 choices for super foods.

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Top 10: Exotic foods in Asia

While I claim myself as an adventurous foodie, I have to firstly put out a disclaimer that these 10 exotic foods may be only baby level for some while daring for others – especially westerners. This is just a snapshot of my personal top 10 for exotic Asian foods (that I’ve tried). My list will begin with #10 for least adventurous to #1 for most daring dishes. So here we go…

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Top 10: Asian athletes

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