JUST A trim

SHOULD HAIRDRESSERS CUT NOSE HAIR? AND WILL THE POSTIE HOLD YOUR MAIL?

You’re going away for a holiday and don’t want letters building up in the box in case it gives burglars ideas. Can you get the postie to put a hold on delivering your letters until you get back? And does it cost anything?

Yes, New Zealand Post will keep any letters sent to you on hold till you get back from holiday. You can set up the hold by logging into your

New Zealand Post account or by going to your local PostShop. You will need your New Zealand Post account, your driver’s licence or New Zealand passport, a credit card if you’re paying the service fee online or an eftpos card or cash if setting up the hold at a PostShop. Yes, it does cost – anything from three dollars for up to a week online to $66 for up to 12 weeks through PostShop. It’s 30% cheaper to arrange the hold online. Senior citizens can get a hold free for up to four weeks. Of course, New Zealand Post can put a hold only on mail sent through them. If you get letters from other deliverers, you will need to contact them separately.

You were in a hair salon recently, and a lovely old man who had his hair cut and ears and eyebrows trimmed, asked the hairdresser if she would trim his nose hair. She refused saying that she didn’t go near nose hair as a matter of policy. The man was embarrassed. Should the hairdresser have helped an old fella out?

No, I don’t think a hairdresser should be required to trim any customer’s nose hair.

Nose hair is unlike ear hair and eyebrows. It is possible for even old men to trim nose hair themselves. There is definitely an issue of hygiene as well. Should hairdressers have to offer a service that requires cleaning the scissors afterwards with a disinfectant? They are not nurses. And waiting customers would be put off if they saw the same scissors, soon to be used on them, removing hair from a stranger’s nose. I don’t think age has anything to do with it. If an old man is aware enough to ask to have his eyebrows and ears trimmed, then he’s capable of tidying up his own nose hair. I’m with the hairdresser on this one.