M: Hello everyone! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name is Marco. 
E: And I’m Erica. 
M: And today we’re gonna be going to one of those places that is really common, right? 
E: That’s right. We’re going to the hair salon. 
M: The hair salon or maybe also called a barbershop. 
E: I guess in this case it’s a barber shop, because, uh, it’s a man who’s getting his haircut. 
M: Okay, so, before we see what happens in this barbershop, let’s take a look at some of 
the vocabulary we might encounter in “vocabulary preview”. 
Voice: Vocabulary preview. 
E: Okay, we’re gonna look at two words that you’ll hear in this dialogue and the first one is 
trim. 
M: Trim. 
E: A trim. 
M: Alright, so, when you trim something… 
E: You cut just a little bit of it. 
M: Alright, so, if I go to the hair salon to get a trim… 
E: You are going to cut only a little bit of your hair. 
M: Okay. 
E: You’re not gonna change the style and make it look different. 
M: Okay, so, a trim. 
E: Uhu. And I think here we’ve seen that i… i… it could be a verb and a noun, right? 
M: Okay, so, I’m going to get a trim. 
E: Yes. 
M: Or I want you to trim my hair. 
E: That’s right. 
M: Alright. And what about our next word? 
E: Fancy. 
M: Fancy. 
E: Fancy. 
M: So, fancy, now, we know that this word maybe is related to something like luxury. 
E: Or formal or something like that. 
M: Right, but in this case or in this context we’re gonna be using it a little bit different. 
E: That’s right. Here, in this dialogue we’ll hear “nothing too fancy”. 
M: Or nothing too complicated. 
E: Nothing too different. 
M: Okay, so, we don’t want anything too fancy. 
E: Alright, but with these two words in mind I think we’re ready to listen to the dialogue. 
A: Hello there! Come on in! Don’t just stand there!
Come and take a seat!
B: Um, okay. Well, I just want a trim. Nothing too
fancy.
A: Oh my gosh! Your hair is amazing! So silky, so
shiny! I am going to work my magic on your hair!
You hear me? You are going to look like a million
bucks!
B: Okay. Um... can you make sure my sideburns are
even and you just take a little off the top.
A: Don’t you worry, I’ll take care of everything! (
starts cutting) Oh my god! I just love your curly
hair! It’s so fluffy and cute! You should totally let it
grow out. An afro would look great on you!
B: Um... no.
A: Okay, but you are going to be my masterpiece!
 
M: Okay, so, I think maybe his hair cut is not quite what he expected. 
E: I think he trusted this stylist a little bit too much. 
M: Hehe. I think this stylist had too many Red Bulls or something. 
E: Maybe. 
M: He was very hyper. 
E: Maybe that was this problem. 
M: Alright, so, why don’t we take a look now at some of the language that we saw in 
“language takeaway”? 
Voice: Language takeaway. 
E: So, I guess this stylist really thought this guy had nice hair, right? 
M: Yeah, we heard how he described his hair. 
E: He said it was so silky. 
M: Silky. 
E: Silky. 
M: Alright, so, we know the word – silk. 
E: Uhu. 
M: A material, very soft and smooth material. 
E: Yeah. And when something is silky, um, it’s very soft and smooth.  
M: Alright, so, silky hair. 
E: Or silky skin. 
M: Alright, so, silky. So, he said he had silky and shiny hair. 
E: Shiny. 
M: Shiny. 
E: Shiny. 
M: Alright, so, we know what shiny is. 
E: Do we? 
M: Yes, we do. 
E: Okay, what? 
M: Hehe. So, something that is shiny is… you can see yourself in it; like gold is shiny. 
E: Or silver is shiny. 
M: Alright, or if you look in the back of a CD… 
E: Uhu. 
M: It’s shiny. 
E: Yeah, so, the light bounces of things that are shiny. 
M: Alright. Now, getting into more hair style vocabulary, he wanted to make sure that his 
sideburns were even. 
E: Sideburns. 
M: Alright, so, sideburns. 
E: Alright, well, sideburns are things that men have, right? 
M: Alright, women don’t have sideburns. 
E: No. 
M: Okay. 
E: So, it’s kind of like a beard. 
M: Uhu. 
E: And it’s the hair that grows on your cheeks near your ears. 
M: Okay, those are your sideburns. 
E: Yes. 
M: And now, also the hairstylist suggested that he should let his hair grow out. 
E: Grow out. 
M: Grow out. 
E: Let your hair grow out. 
M: Alright, so, what does that mean exactly? 
E: Make… let your hair get longer. 
M: So, you can say “let you hair grow”. 
E: Yeah. 
M: But I guess it’s more common to hear “let your hair grow out”. 
E: Well, maybe it just means something a little bit different… 
M: Alright. 
E: If I let my hair grow, I might let it grow a little bit… 
M: Uhu. 
E: Might grow it a little bit longer, but if I let my hair grow out maybe it’s short now and I'll 
let it get really long. 
M: Okay. 
E: So, to… let your hair grow out is to really change the length. 
M: Alright. Very good, so, let your hair grow out. And our last word on language takeaway 
today – afro. 
E: Afro. 
M: Afro. 
E: So, if this guy let his curly hair grow out, he would have an afro. 
M: An afro, right? 
E: Uhu. 
M: So, now this hairstyle was very popular in the Seventies. 
E: That’s right. It’s like a big round curly fluffy ball of hair. 
M: Exactly, so, that’s an afro. 
E: We’ll post some pictures on the web… just like for you to get a clear idea what this looks 
like. 
M: Alright, so, I think now we are ready to listen to our dialogue for the second time an 
then we’ll come back and look at some phrases. 
A: Hello there! Come on in! Don’t just stand there!
Come and take a seat!
B: Um, okay. Well, I just want a trim. Nothing too
fancy.
A: Oh my gosh! Your hair is amazing! So silky, so
shiny! I am going to work my magic on your hair!
You hear me? You are going to look like a million
bucks!
B: Okay. Um... can you make sure my sideburns are
even and you just take a little off the top.
A: Don’t you worry, I’ll take care of everything! (
starts cutting) Oh my god! I just love your curly
hair! It’s so fluffy and cute! You should totally let it
grow out. An afro would look great on you!
B: Um... no.
A: Okay, but you are going to be my masterpiece!
 
E: Okay, so, we have some phrases here, um, that you might hear in a hair salon or in a 
barbershop. So, why don’t we look at those now in “fluency builder”. 
Voice: Fluency builder. 
M: The hairstylist said don’t just stand there. 
E: Don’t just stand there. 
M: Alright, don’t just stand there. 
E: So, this is and interesting phrase, Marco, I mean it’s made up of really simple words, 
right? 
M: Right, but actually those words make it an order that’s a little bit different. 
E: So, why don’t we hear few examples to help us understand how to use this phrase? 
Voice: Example one. 
A: Don’t just stand there. Help me take these boxes into the house. 
Voice: Example two. 
B: The house is on fire! Don’t just stand there! Call the fire department! 
Voice: Example three. 
C: Don’t just stand there in the rain. Come inside. 
M: Okay, so, basically we can understand that if somebody tells you “don’t just stand 
there”, they are expecting you to do something. 
E: We might use this phrase, uh, when somebody is not doing what we think they should 
do. 
M: Okay. When action is required. 
E: Exactly. 
M: Okay. So, why don’t we move on to our next phrase now?  
E: Look like a million bucks. 
M: You look like a million bucks. 
E: So, when someone looks like a million bucks, they look… 
M: Really, really good. 
E: Yeah. 
M: So, that is a very common way of just saying you look very good. 
E: Uhu. 
M: Or something looks like a million bucks. 
E: So, it can be for a person or a thing, right? 
M: Exactly. 
E: Okay, and our final phrase. And this one is really common in… in barbershops - take a 
little off the top. 
M: Take a little off the top. 
E: Take a little off the top. 
M: So, that basically means cut a little bit on top. 
E: Exactly. 
M: And now, can I say “take a little off the sides”? 
E: Yeah, you can say that as well. 
M: Alright. So, take a little off the top; take a little off the sides. 
E: Okay, so, with all this great haircutting language, why don’t we listen to our dialogue one 
last time? 
A: Hello there! Come on in! Don’t just stand there!
Come and take a seat!
B: Um, okay. Well, I just want a trim. Nothing too
fancy.
A: Oh my gosh! Your hair is amazing! So silky, so
shiny! I am going to work my magic on your hair!
You hear me? You are going to look like a million
bucks!
B: Okay. Um... can you make sure my sideburns are
even and you just take a little off the top.
A: Don’t you worry, I’ll take care of everything! (
starts cutting) Oh my god! I just love your curly
hair! It’s so fluffy and cute! You should totally let it
grow out. An afro would look great on you!
B: Um... no.
A: Okay, but you are going to be my masterpiece!
 
M: Alright, so, now talking about hairstyles and different, uh, types of hair, there’re some 
interesting ones and maybe aren’t so fashionable anymore, right? 
E: Yeah, um, actually English has a lot of really cool words to describe haircuts. 
M: So, let’s start with the couple of them. For example, a mullet. 
E: A mullet, so, this is when your hair is really short on top and really long in the back. 
M: Right, so, the sides and the top are really short, but in the back you have long hair. 
E: Yeah, um, in Canada we call that a shorty-shorty-longback. 
M: Shorty-shorty-longback. 
E: Yeah. We also call it hockey hair. 
M: Hockey hair. 
E: Or even all business up front / all party behind.  
M: Oh, Canadians are, uh, obviously very into this hairstyle. 
E: It’s unfortunately true. 
M: Hehe. Alright, we also have for example, a mohawk. 
E: Hm, popular amongst the punk rock kids. 
M: Exactly, so, you shave your head on the sides… 
E: Yeah. 
M: But you leave a little like stripe of… 
E: Ye… 
M: Long hair on top. 
E: Of sticking up long hair. 
M: Okay, and that’s a mohawk. 
E: Uhu. 
M: What about a flat-top? 
E: Oh, um, popular with law enforcement agents and serial killers. 
M: Hehe. So, basically it’s short hair on the sides…  
E: And short and flat hair on the top. 
M: Right, so your hair… 
E: Kind of like a box. 
M: Right, you have… it’s flat on top… 
E: Kind of like your haircut. 
M: Hehe. I do no have a flat-top for all of you out there, uh, but I did used to have a crew-
cut. 
E: Oh, crew-cut. 
M: A crew-cut. 
E: Yeah. Like an army haircut. 
M: Right, so, very short on the sides… 
E: Uh. 
M: And a little bit long on top. 
E: Yeah, okay, um, and out last one, my actual personal least favorite haircut. 
M: Hehe. Dreadlocks. 
E: Dreadlocks. 
M: Alright, so… so dreadlocks are, uh… knots of hair, right?  
E: Yeah, um, it looks like you haven’t washed your hair in about seven years. 
M: Hehe. Right, those are dreadlocks. Very popular among like Rastafarians and… 
E: Sure, or like, um, young hippie kids. 
M: Hippies, right? 
E: Yeah. 
M: Very good. So… what about in your countries? What different hairstyles are popular 
there? I know that Japanese hairstyles are really cool. 
E: Yeah, that’s right, uh, Japanese haircuts can be pretty awesome. 
M: Right, so, tell us all about it, come to our website, post some pictures and also if you 
have any questions or doubts, let us know.  
E: Well, thanks for downloading this lesson, you guys, and until next time… Good bye! 
M: Bye!