It has been a couple of years since the $10 haircut in 10 minutes was brought into Singapore and now the EC House and QB House are gaining large following amount the working class in town and heartlanders alike.
I vaguely remembered that the first such establishment that was set up in this little red dot is the QB House. The QB (Quick Barber) House was founded in Japan and yada yada yada. You can read the history at the Economist website here.
On the other hand, EC House is an investment by several Hong Kong stars and i’m not too sure whether the it came from Hong Kong or it spread from here to Hong Kong. In any case, when QB House failed to gain popularity here for a while after they set foot on the island, EC House came up and now EC House is all around Singapore.
I could try to come up with a game structure around this incumbent and entrant game here to explain what happened and what could have been done but i shall save it for another time and another place.
I have been visiting EC House for about a year now, after finishing my NS in Sembawang and decided that cutting hair at Chong Pang is certainly out of the way. For $6 or $7, i could get a good haircut at a neighbour salon, but if i walk over it would take 25 minutes and busing over would take around 15-20 minutes, depending on waiting time.
So the EC House at Citilink is a convenient choice. It does a good job too, and it’s now more in the way. Recently, i tried the QB House at Millania Walk. Huh where’s that? It’s the shopping mall sandwiched between Suntec and Marina Sq. Having read about the development of QB House and later the EC House on the local newspaper and then the competition between the two, i have my own set of opinion now after trying out the service on both sides.
EC House - plenty outlets around. Sometimes i pop by the Suntec one because hidden in one corner not near the building closer to Citilink, it is usually empty. Same for Funan outlet which is near school. However, i suspect that the hygience policy is unfortunately, not uphold by the staff on several visits. They did not give the comb to the customer after the haircut, and merely put it back into the equipment box after the haircut. When the next customer (usually it’s yours truly) sit on the chair, they take out the comb from the box and start cutting all over again. I do not need superman’s eyesight to see that there is only one comb inside the box.
The sucker airwasher whatever you call that tube that is used to remove the loose hair is not exactly effective, and the hairstylist do not really try to remove all the loose hair on the head and on the clothes. I have my share of tough time making myself decent all again for the next few hours i would be spending outside.
QB House - on the other hand, QB House provides great service. I have been there twice, and the hairstylist do give me the comb. When i chose not to accept the comb, the hairstylist dispose it in front of me. Down side is there isn’t much of a choice in terms of venue as i only go to the one and only one i know.
I have already made up my mind where to go to for future haircut.
Hello, do you mind if you could tell me where the QB House (not EC House) outlet is? Thanks.
Hi John,
I am only aware of one, at millenia walk. It used to be in front of candie empire, but has relocated to a proper shop in between harvey norman and koufu food court (at the new wing). I vaguely remember there are more outlets. One should be in the west side. Bukit Gombak or somewhere there. West mall i reckon.
Cheers,
Chongky
Hi Chongky,
Thanks so much for the reply. Frankly speaking, I have not tried EC House and QB House/Shell. It seems to me that EC House is the copycat of the original QB House. From your blog post, you seem to prefer QB House. Well, how was your experience at QB so far? Will the hairstylist rush to cut your hair so as to finish within the 10 minutes? As for your hairstyle, are you satisfied with it after every visit? Are they better than the neighbourhood barbers? When is the best time to visit the QB outlet at Millenia, such that there are not so many people?
I hope you are able to answer my queries.
Warm wishes,
John
Hi John,
It seemed like EC House copied the concept of QB House/Shell. At least that’s a common perception when it comes to Hong Kong (EC) and Japan (usually the innovator / QB).
Depends on who you might meet at the outlet, services differ from hairstylist to hairstylist. I encountered a hairstylist at EC House who took time to recommend hairstyle and shaved lines on the side of my head at my request. Some hairstylist do rush though, giving a very normal service that you would expect at the old time barbershop, that is if you had been to one of them.
To be fair, i’m not entirely satisfied at QB everytime either. At the end of the day, i reckon both are providing decent service, judging from the consumer demand and queues at certain peak hours at certain outlet. I’m not sure for QB, but at EC the hairstylists rotate among the outlets, and i had to pop by and hunt for my fav ones to get my haircut.
If you intend to try out QB, do go by during office hours.
And if you really have time to spare, i suggest you go to Kimage School of Hairdressing at Funan Level 5 instead (http://www.kimage.com.sg/school/about.asp). One, it’s cheaper. $6 for short hair, according to the website make your booking one working day in advance and there’s 10% off, though i haven’t tried that and walk in all the time. And two, students cut for you and the teacher check constantly. If there are screw ups, they will be fixed. Three, they wash your hair and rinise again after haircut. Much cleaner. Lastly, they provide skilled services. Much thoughts and effort is put into the haircut. I would say at the end of the day, what you get there is pretty much on par with what i used to pay $18 at my neighbour shopping mall hairdresser, though you probably spent a little bit more time.
One down side though, the haircut might take a hour.
Cheers,
Chongky
Hi,
I have found news on EC House and QB House, explaining why out of a sudden EC House flooded the market.
Refer to http://zhngmyneh.wordpress.com/2007/11/06/news-on-ec-house-and-qb-house/
Cheers,
Chongky
Seriously, for my i have a better experience with EC than QB. The QB house in my area is the same as the EC that you have explained in your blog. Guess what!? I’ve got a freaking weird haircut by QB and everyone around me is talkin’ about it.
I’m looking for a complaint address or email or whatever now =(.
Unfortunately, quality control is probably what both EC and QB are lacking. I have been to a lot of hairdressing, and have paid attention to the techniques (according to what i have picked up over the visits to different places), professionalism etc.
Sadly i would rank EC and QB right next to the next neighbour saloon that opened a few months back. Whether the hair cut looks like what you want depends on your probability of meeting a good hair dresser.
For myself i have chose to rely on clear instruction on the hair style that i want, and i would even go on to the exact way they should cut it if there’s a need to.
I have done a search a while back. Nothing much turns up for QB Singapore. Hope you find osme avenue to put through your feedback.