When I was stationed in Seoul, ROK, the base had local workers running the barbershops, 90% female. The ages ranged from older teenagers to ancient. The oldsters were all tiny, with no body fat to speak of, and (the Korean War had only ended 34 years earlier) had been through the wars quite literally.

Besides haircuts (cheap) we could also get massages (neck, shoulders, arms, and hands only) and manicures. And they had standing specials with all three for $10 or something like that.

The first time I took the special was with one of the young ladies. The massage was alright, in a female touch kind of way, and the manicure was... okay, I guess? Never had a manicure before. A tad better than just clipping my nails myself, I guess. Whatever.

The second time, it was with a woman who looked older than my dead grandmother, who had to drop the chair down to the lowest level so she could get to my hair. The manicure was— OH MY GOD WOMAN WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY FINGERS! OW OW OW OW! I get a look like "Grow a pair, buddy, I haven't even gotten warmed up yet." And the pain went on another ten minutes. Then the massage started, which involved kneading and chopping and something with extremely strong fingers. I finally staggered out of the chair and... felt pretty good, actually! Damn!

From then on I only got a massage when the barber was 50+ years old. Totally worth it. Never got a manicure again, my nails weren't worth the pain.