Tomorrow morning will mark the 72 hour period of not having touch on tap. However, thanks to a visit to the wonderful Japanese hairdressers, I'm feeling anything but emotionally withered and cranky! Today's hairdresser - Kaji - did me proud - there was so much lather going on around my scalp that I felt as if I was wearing a hat made up of shampoo bubbles. He was a master of the Japanese art of "shampoo". When I lived in Japan, folks would pay around £15 just to have their hair washed - no cut, no colour - just water, shampoo and lots of gratuitous shiatsu scalp massage. Would highly recommend a trip to the hairdressers for anyone feeling touch deprived!
I noticed this evening, that I was touching colleagues' arms or backs to make a point and vice-versa. I'm living with the expectation of receiving all sorts of good touch in the week ahead - so I'm probably not in the best place to be conducting an experiment into the effects of touch deprivation after 72 hours!
However, I'm going to share something with you that a colleague wrote.
People NEED touch, it isn't an optional aspect of being human. People can get themselves into all sorts of interesting situations consciously and unconsciously in order to take care of themselves in this aspect of living.
Jokes about folks who are being grumpy just "needing to get laid" are abundant. So folks have acknowledged on some level that affectionate touch is important to our emotional well-being.
Comments