Friday, Apr. 02, 2010

The Sultan of Snip

When you're the Sultan of Brunei, bills are clearly a laughing matter — or at least trivial enough that a £15,000 ($23,000) haircut would not seem out of order. In 2009, the world learned that Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, whose estimated net worth of $20 billion is based on his country's oil and gas reserves, pays that amount to ship in his favorite stylist, Ken Modestou, from London. The haircut itself sets the royal back a few thousand quid, but he also pays for the coiffeur's 7,000-mile (11,000 km) luxury flight, food and hotel accommodations for three or four nights. Modestou was working at a hotel barbershop in London when the news broke. His services there went for about £30 a cut.