[Photo: Hair clipper, frying pan from Gori Mall and nomad pasta (Source: myself)]
Gori is a town where groceries are cheap. How cheap, you ask? A 1.5L bottle of Coca-Cola costs 1 dollar. Suluguni cheese (and it’s really good) is also 1 dollar. Three days’ worth of bread costs about 50 cents. Even Georgia’s famous Kindzmarauli wine is just 10 dollars. But services — those are not cheap. A single haircut costs around 10–20 dollars. That’s almost the same as in South Korea, even though Korea’s national income is four times higher.
So what’s going on here? It’s not just a difference in prices.
Why Is a Haircut Expensive?
I once wrote about this in the Toyota Pub Series. In countries like Korea or the U.S., where dual-income households are common and the cost of living is high, services like dining out or haircuts become “price-sensitive necessities.” People simply don’t have time for household chores. So demand for these services rises— but the supply rises even faster. (This isn’t semiconductors, after all.) As a result, the average price naturally goes down.
Meanwhile, in places like Germany, Russia, Vietnam, or Georgia, dual-income households are less common. Household labor stays within the home. That means services like dining or haircuts turn into “luxuries for special occasions.” Demand is low, supply is low, and prices remain high.
Most kids still get their hair cut at home. Maybe that’s why—there are still over ten barbershops right in front of Gori City Hall. It reminds me of Seoul in the 1960s and 70s, when every school street had a row of barbershops. It’s not about what’s better or worse. It’s simply about different life styles.
The Philosophy of Self-Haircut
I’m not living through any special occasion, so there’s no reason to look fancy. So I shaved my own head. The clipper from Gori Mall cost just 10 dollars. Two haircuts and it already pays for itself. With the money I saved, I bought tomato sauce and pasta—and made a survival-style Bolognese of Gori.
The Rhythm of a Nomad
Sometimes I think, “I’m thirty-seven now—why didn’t I just keep running my old restaurant instead of living like this?” But at the same time, there’s this quiet realization:
“This is my kind of nomadic lifestyle.”
One by one, I’m shedding unnecessary things, keeping only the rhythms that truly matter. And as it turns out—shaving your head feels surprisingly refreshing. Since most of the men in this neighborhood had their heads shaved short, I felt like I had become one of them.
Conclusion:
In Gori, don’t get your hair cut — shave it yourself. It’s cheaper, freer, and somehow… more Gori.
#Gori #Gori life #Georgia #Endorphin Life #Saltnfire #Phenomenology
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