I arrived in Vietnam in October 2009. It was my second or third time there visiting my fiancee, Linh. I was to stay in her village in the province of Dal Lake for as long as it took to get married and then return to Ireland. In the event it took more than 10 months for everything to fall into place. As I travelled around locally with my camera in hand I was drawn to the hair salons in her village. The salons in Vietnam seemed primitive compared to what I saw in Dublin. I was attracted to them and decided to start photographing them over time at every opportunity. My wife of course helped to translate my objectives to the startled staff and customers and it made access straight forward. Both customer and staff were very obliging and I’m sure they thought it odd that an Irish man (a foreigner) would find any interest in them. In the end I was satisfied with my results in this project and it would be interesting to continue to make more when I return imminently.

There is an ironic position in Vietnam in that the women aspire to have pale skin, covering up from the sun and applying whitening cream. It is highly advertised on billboards and on tv. To have pale skin is the iconic beautiful look.