In Miss Shampoo, a hair salon assistant saves the life of a gangster, who, in an attempt to show gratitude towards her, falls for her. The movie is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Gangster Tai and his boss, Hsing, find themselves on a run from some Thai mercenaries. While Hsing is killed, Tai takes shelter in a hair salon, where Fen, a hair salon assistant, is practicing late at night.
Though the Thai mercenaries come looking for Tai at the salon, Fen doesn’t tell them about Tai. The Thai gang fails to find Tai, who survives the night.
With Hsing gone, Tai becomes the new leader of the gang. To thank Fen for saving him, Tai and his gang visit her with gifts. Tai also sits down to get a haircut from Fen, even though she is not a qualified hairdresser yet.
Fen doesn’t show much respect to Tai and his friends, knowing that they are gangsters. While Fen cuts Tai’s hair, he offers her all kinds of help she may need.
Fen gives him a terrible haircut. Still, Tai appreciates it. Tai and his gang keep looking for Hsing’s killers. In the meantime, Tai also doesn’t stop visiting Fen.
After hearing that she dreams of becoming a stylist who works in a big chain store but has been struggling and is stuck in the hair washer position at a salon where business is bad, he starts sending new clients to her.
All of these clients specifically ask for Fen and appreciate her, though she gives them awful haircuts.
Fen ends up becoming good friends with Tai and his gang members. Tai’s heart breaks when he learns that Fen already has a boyfriend.
Tai’s love for Fen affects his work as a gangster. Long Legs from his gang, especially, criticizes the way Tai is operating.
During a meeting of the gang leaders, it is mentioned that Hsing was killed because he wanted different conditions for the urban renewal project than those of the other gang leaders. Someone among them has certainly killed Hsing.
Tai’s gang finds Fen’s boyfriend cheating on her with another girl. Tai plans to be nice and give her boyfriend another chance until he is told that Fen’s boyfriend hasn’t gotten a haircut from Fen.
They teach him a lesson, and he dumps Fen, who is heartbroken. Tai takes advantage of the situation and visits Fen’s house with flowers.
Fen’s family accepts Tai despite him being a gangster. Even Fen feels attracted to Tai. However, there are a few concerns that Fen’s mother talks about, like what if Fen and Tai break up and Tai becomes violent?
Fen makes Tai promise that he won’t become a scary ex-lover and kill her whole family if they break up before proceeding with this relationship.
Apart from this promise, Tai also assures Fen that he completely belongs to her now. Hanging out with Tai and his gang makes Fen realize what kind of posers they are.
Fen is a huge fan of baseball player Zheng Xuxiang. Tai and his friends help her meet Xuxiang, but what hurts Fen is that they are all pretending to be baseball fans.
Fen is quite emotional about the sport of baseball. She thinks that faking love for baseball is an insult to the sport.
Fen and Tai end up in a huge argument. An angry Tai confesses that he was all in for it, even though she gave him an ugly haircut, which further ruins things. Fen and Tai then part ways.
Ending explained:
Tai’s backstory
To avoid Tai and his gang, Fen leaves the salon where she works. However, one day, she is visited by her idol, Zheng Xuxiang.
Xuxiang lets Fen know that he and Tai are really good friends. Tai was a senior on his baseball team.
Though he was not a good player, he insisted on being the captain and dreamed of taking the team to the national championship.
Tai knew everyone thought of him as a terrible player, but he refused to change. One day, one of their teammates got involved with gangsters.
When they came to beat that player up, their coach hid, while Tai was the only one who stood up and fought for his teammate. Tai’s move encouraged his teammates to join the fight.
When the police arrived, Tai took all the responsibility as the captain of the team, for which he got expelled.
The second baseman who got involved with gangsters in the first place was none other than Xuxiang. Thanks to Tai, he is now playing baseball without any criminal record, whereas Tai has now become a gangster.
The story makes Fen emotional. Earlier, she had tried to teach Tai why he should take responsibility as a boss. It’s now that she realizes Tai is a responsible boss.
The mystery behind Hsing’s death
Tai hasn’t been able to move on since Fen dumped him. In a heart-to-heart conversation, Tai confesses to Long Legs how Hsing pushed him at the Thai mercenaries when they showed up to kill them.
Tai says he is ready to die for the boss, but he doesn’t know if the boss pushing his people to death is right.
The Thai mercenaries come to kill Tai and Long Legs. Tai promises Long Legs that he will get him out of there. In the end, it is Long Legs who saves Tai by contacting the other gang members, who come to their rescue.
Amidst all of this, it is revealed that this is all Boss Chuan’s doing. He wants that urban renewal project. Hence, they had to do this.
Tai’s fate
Tai is rescued by his gang, who also take care of Boss Chuan. However, Tai’s survival seems impossible at this point.
The film teases that Tai isn’t as lucky as he was on the day he walked into Fen’s salon. However, right after teasing his death, Tai walks into Fen’s salon again.
Everyone constantly mentions how hard it is to kill Tai. Tai’s gang members discuss that his stomach must be tiny, which is why the stabs fail to kill him entirely.
While Tai reunites with Fen, Long Legs, who is hurt, is taken to the hospital. During the credits, it is revealed that Fen gets pregnant with Tai’s baby and starts working at her old salon again.
Tai is thinking of a new business, but he and his gang are not changing their ways.
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