I have an affinity towards beauty parlors and barbershops. I believe that the terroir of a city can be found in these spaces where locals gather to share gossip and prepare themselves in ways fitting to and highlighting social mores. Beauty parlors and barbershops become hubs of information and places in which traditions are created, passed down and shared. Whenever I find such a space while traveling, I feel an intense need to capture it, to immortalize a moment that is oftentimes the essence of a place.

Tucked deep inside the Morning Market, an expanse that defines Laos’ capital city Vientiane and acts as the heartbeat of the city, are a number of these shops ready to prepare their customers for the Vientiane world. So here they are, the shops of Morning Market beauty.