Big up yer barber!

[babycart]

Having ended up with a number of policeman's haircuts from Spanish barbers I have ended up going to Ladies Salons for the last two years, but after waiting an hour in vain with only a copy of Hola! magazine last week, I walked out of my regular and booked a cut with the Moroccan woman up the road.

I turned up and she had brought in a small, sad man with piercing blue eyes who gave me a terrific cut using only clippers and a cut throat. Pure skill. He then shaved me until my chin felt like a peeled hard-boiled egg, and I came out smelling so masculine and fragrant I was turning myself on.

I hate going to new barbers. My other favourites have been Bill the Barber in Nottingham, whose gimmick was using a spirit level to check the flat tops, and Dave Parker in the Toon, who hugged me when I popped in last year.

[mr sayers]

I ain't been to a barbers in over 20 years, got a pair of clippers for my 18th birthday and never been since. It was £2.50 last time I went to get my hair cut, sure it will have gone up a bit since then!

[babycart]

I ain't been to a barbers in over 20 years, got a pair of clippers for my 18th birthday and never been since. It was £2.50 last time I went to get my hair cut, sure it will have gone up a bit since then!

Yes, by about 300% at least.
One of the first things I notice when I return home is how many British men have basically given up on all that hair nonsense. I'm just happy to still have some to play around with .

[SirSlim]

I hate going to new barbers.

Me too.

[mr sayers]

I'm just happy to still have some to play around with .

I have very little to play around with!

[jahshabby]

Big up to my barber who, for the last 10 years or so, has been my girlfriend.

She hates doing it but, crucially, she hates doing it less than I hate going to get my hair cut. We counted. She's only fucked it up once, when she took the sideburns right off when I was having a grade 4. Nothing too drastic. It's not all clippers though, she does a decent cut too – apparently my hair's easy as it's curly, but I'm still impressed.

Having said that, when we were poor (OK poorer), she persuaded me to cut her hair. She wanted a bob. It took fucking AGES, and I was determined that it would be absolutely straight. The next day she was complimented on the cut and, when she told the person her boyfriend had done it, they replied, 'is he a hairdresser then?' I was proud as punch when she told me. So much so that here I am, still mentioning it some 17 years later.

I've never done it since mind - I'll stick with the win, thanks. And that is one of the many reasons why she's a much, much better person than me.

[Expiry2011]

Someone had to do it....

[Plainstone]

Someone had to do it....

You know the actor who plays Danny is bald in real life?

[babycart]

Having said that, when we were poor (OK poorer), she persuaded me to cut her hair. She wanted a bob. It took fucking AGES, and I was determined that it would be absolutely straight. The next day she was complimented on the cut and, when she told the person her boyfriend had done it, they replied, 'is he a hairdresser then?' I was proud as punch when she told me. So much so that here I am, still mentioning it some 17 years later.
.

I'm impressed. Every girlfriend I've ever had would sooner have contemplated a threesome with a farm animal than let me near their head with scissors, and every time they've done my hair it's ended in misery and a quick trip to a professional.

[Plainstone]

a quick trip to a professional.

You might like to rephrase that ...

[d7bohs]

My hair is a disaster. Consistency and texture of a gorse bush on a cold hillside in winter.

I tend to leave it far too long, because i can't take watching the despair that overtakes hair care professionals as they wrestle with it. Don King, Slobodan Milosevic and the guy from Eraserhead are a few of the comparisons I've had.

Anytime I do find someone who can cope with it, they are almost always non-Irish, and, as soon as I've gotten on to first name terms with Karla, or Stefan, or whoever, they decided they've had enough of this economic zombie land and have gone home to Russia or Poland or wherever- although the last guy I really liked was from Croydon and has moved to Tipperary

High hopes for the current guy though - he's Korean, and it's a long way back............ plus he doesn't have that much English so I'm spared the 'going anywhere nice for your holidays?' stuff. They just chat to each other, with the occasional relevant hair related question. It's quite restful.

[relkeel]

I pop into a barber shop every week. Not for a haircut but to buy/sell/trade records.Its proper old school. There's a barbers pole outside ,its down a spiral stone staircase with ornately tiled walls.Inside half the seating for customers is taken up with cases of records,I haven't actually traded records for a haircut yet..but it's only a matter of time. Four at the back and sides and six on top since your asking.

[korova]

No 3 all over using my own dubbers (who else calls em that or is just us in the North?). Only ever been to a proper barbers about three times in the last thirty years! Got daft hair that becomes a curly mess without loads of "product" and I can't be arsed with all that, especially at 6:30 in the morning.

[ashra]

I've had two of the same barbers as Alan Carr, fact fans.

[ginghamkitchen]

When I was working in Leeds I once had my hair cut at Howard International, surrounded by pictures of Howard's great friend and best customer, Sir Jimmy Savile...bet the decor has changed a bit! I often wondered why anyone would promote the fact that they were involved with creating one of the worst haircuts in Britain. I also wonder why I went there, seems pretty daft now as I ended up with a shit haircut too.