Please Do Not Burn The Hair Out Of My Ears With A Flaming Cotton Ball
Posted by: nick on 
Oct 13th, 2008 | 
Filed under: turkish phrases
“Please don’t burn the hair out of my ears with a flaming cotton ball!” is one of those Turkish phrases you should learn if you are a guy who needs to visit the barber in Turkey–that is, unless you enjoy having your ears smell like burnt hair. I’m not making this up.
Barbers in various parts of the world come up with very creative ways to serve their customers. I’ve had neck and scalp massages before without being asked. But when it comes to ear hair (and yes guys, as you get older the hair does get thicker in your ears) I never had this experience until recently.
I visited the barber and was enjoying a very professional (and badly needed) haircut when the barber went to his table and picked up what looked like a metal skewer with cotton on the end. He messed with it a bit to get it ready as I curiously and innocently looked on. Then he dipped the cotton ball in some kind of flammable liquid and barked at his apprentice to get matches.
**Please Do NOT Try This At Home**
When he lit it, the cotton ball had a six-inch flame coming off of it and he brought it over to me. By then I was getting nervous, but I figured, “Hey, this guy is a professional. I’ll let him do his job.” Sure enough, the barber skillfully singed all the hair out of my ears without turning me into a toasted marshmallow! He did a kind of burn-wack-burn-wack move where he expertly slapped my ear to put out the burning hair before it burned down to my skin. I was amazed.
So if you need to visit a barber in Turkey and don’t want the flaming cotton ball treatment, I’m told a simple, “istemiyorum” (iss-tay-mee-yor-um) will suffice. It means, “I don’t want it.”
If you really want to say the whole phrase say, “Lütfen, kulak tüylerimi yanan pamukla yakmayın!” (Loot-fan, koo-lock tooy-lar-eem-i yon-on pom-ook-la yock-my-in).
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October 14th, 2008 at 11:46 am
If you do not mind having your ears burnt, or want to learn more about the wonderful experience and art of getting a men’s haircut in Turkey, visit http://squidoo.com/turkishhaircut.
October 14th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Peter! Thanks for posting that URL. Great info!
November 23rd, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Good read for turkish voyagers! Just wanted to make a correction though:
“Lütfen, kulak tüyüm yanan pamukla yanmayın!”, this phrase contains grammatical mistakes. Sure, the barber will get what you mean, but here is how it should be written and some alternatives :
“Lütfen, kulak tüylerimi yanan pamukla yakmayın!” (Loot-fan, koo-lock tooy-le-rim-e yon-on pom-ook-la yock-my-in).
“Kalsın!” “Leave it off!” “Cul-sn” (pronounce -sn- as in -snore-)
“Gerek yok!” “No need!” “Gar-ek yock” (-Gar- as in -Garry-)
Needless to say, when you feel intimidated the best strategy is to squall “No, no, no, nonononoooooooooooooooo!!!!!”
November 24th, 2008 at 8:44 am
I was guessing on this, so thanks for the correction (I’ve fixed it) and other helpful suggestions! I think “No, no nooooooo” is a universal language!
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:10 am
I just had the same experience… The whole lighter to the ear freaked me out.
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:27 pm
This happened to me on a visit to a Barber in Merrylands, N.S.W. Australia last month. I nearly died when he came at me with what I thought was some magic fire act as a post haircut entertainment.
Needless to say, there was much ear whacking involved as one of my ears flash fired due to excessive hair.
The whole situation has made for great dinner conversation back here in Abilene Texas.
September 26th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
My god……just had the same experience in Germany….been getting my hair cut in the same place for 10 years and never seen anything like this!…..New bloke just started and finished of my very good haircut by attacking my ears with a lighter! Strangely he had been talking about his recent “working” holiday in turkey…must be where he got the idea!
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