Some trimmings from my tonsorial
adventures
by Dr Nihal D Amerasekera
The human hair grows from cradle
to grave. The need to maintain its length existed since the beginning of time. Two
statuettes from the Ice age dated 30,000 BC called the Venus of Willendorf and
Venus of Brassempouy, show features of hairstyling and braiding. The earliest
record reaches back to the bronze age when they used sharp instruments to
resize the hair. Hair cutting and styling were well-established in Egypt and
Ancient Greece. Barbering evolved further until the Middle Ages when religious
clergy took on this work. With the haircutting, they encroached on human
surgical procedures and also dentistry, pulling out teeth. Apparently, this shocking
practice went on for 6 centuries. As the disastrous results of human surgery became
commonplace, news of its tragic consequences reached the Vatican. This barbaric
practice was then banned by a Papal decree. Thankfully, barbering and surgery
went their separate ways, never to meet again. In the 21st-century
hair cutting and styling is a prestigious occupation. Nowadays, it is done with
great care and consideration, for which they charge a small ‘fortune’.
The hairdressing world is
renowned for its gloss and glamour. The Salons are mostly unisex. The modern
salons and the industry have evolved to care for the lady’s hair which they do
with great expertise. With the variety of services available for the ladies that
is where the salons make their money. Men’s hair is mostly confined to a haircut.
Hence doing men’s hair is just a job that needs doing and is never as lucrative
to the Salons. For vanity or sanity, it is the youth of today that keep the
barber shops in business.
With my Christian upbringing,
human hair is a reminder of that Biblical story of Samson and Delilah. It was
made into an epic film in 1949 by Cecil B DeMille and Paramount Pictures. I well remember seeing this film in the Regal
theatre starring Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr. Samson had immense strength and
could kill a lion with his bare hands. The story was that his great strength
lay in his long hair. Samson was seduced and betrayed by his lover, Delilah,
who got one of her servants to cut his hair while he was asleep. He then lost
all his strength. Samson was blinded and imprisoned. Later his hair regrew and
regained his strength. Samson lost his
life in the destruction of the temple when he and Delilah were buried beneath
the rubble.
My earliest recollection of a
hair cut goes back to the late 1940’s. I was living with my grandparents in
Nugegoda which was then a small town. As a 5-year-old, I held on tightly to my
grandpa’s hand as he walked me along High-Level Road. I was curious but also unhappy.
Grandpa bought me some sweets. The barber shop was a tiny shack with a
revolving door. I can still recall the rapid clicking of the barber’s scissors
and the sights and smells of that small salon. I was bitten by hordes of bed
bugs and returned home itching the back of my thighs which turned into angry
red blisters. We never went there again.
Much of my school years were
spent ‘incarcerated’ in the college boarding. In those days school rules were
harsh and draconian. Long hair was
taboo. The haircuts were done by a visiting barber. This was performed in the
open air on a Wednesday, after school, in the cycle shed. We wrote our names in
his book which gave us the ‘batting order’. The barber was a law unto himself. He
never asked any questions and cut the hair as he wished. We could recognise his
handiwork easily as all the boarders had ‘military’ haircuts showing the scalp
that glistened in the sunlight.
I was a medical student at the
Faculty of Medicine, Colombo, in the 1960’s. Money then was tight. The parental
monthly remuneration was never enough. In those distant days Punchi Borella was
a place for the trainee barbers to perfect their skills. This was performed under
the shade of a spreading Banyan tree. There was a generous offer of a free haircut
to those who dare. The victim had to hold the mirror himself to see their
handiwork. The crows above were a menace. The customers and the barbers were
constantly bombarded with their excrement. Some said, “the crows provided the Brylcreem”.
The clicking of the scissors was their sign that action has begun. They hadn’t
yet mastered the use of the scissors and the scalpel. If you walk out with your
ears intact you’ve done well. Although I was greatly tempted to try my luck to
tide over the financial crisis, I didn’t want my hair vandalised. Good sense
prevailed, but I remained an occasional spectator of this amazing spectacle.
During those busy years as a
medical student, an elderly betel-chewing barber in Borella came to my rescue
with budget haircuts. Always with a mouthful of betel he did not speak much. Despite his silence, he had the ability to radiate friendship and kindness with a broad smile showing off his red-coloured mouth and stained teeth. Squinting through
his small circular glasses, he added some elegance to my hair. Sadly, his days
ended when he developed mouth cancer when I was in my final year. I felt the
shock deeply. The old man’s demise detonated my finances only to be rescued
when I received my first pay as a medic. A princely sum of Rs 450.
Hairdressing is not an easy
profession. They have to be psychologists to understand what the client wants.
“I want it short” could mean many things. Getting the message wrong can be
disastrous to the client and the hairdresser. To my great delight barbers are
inveterate talkers. Usually, it’s idle chitchat. When their hands are busy
their tongues are hardly ever still. This can get them into serious trouble
too. My current barber once worked for an upmarket lady’s hair salon. He did a
haircut and colouring for a posh lady with ‘difficult’ coarse black hair. At
the end of the process the lady wasn’t happy with the final result. She refused
to pay and made an awful lot of noise about it. This angered the hairdresser.
He blurted out the well-known aphorism “I’m only a hairdresser, not a magician,
so please lower your expectations.” This upset the lady. The hairdresser had to
leave his job.
After I emigrated to the UK I
lived in Wood Green in North London. In the 1970’s this was the enclave of
Greek Immigrants. I went to the local Greek barber in town. He was a kindly,
verbose, elderly man who chatted incessantly about his childhood in Athens. He
recalled the hustle and bustle and the good times growing up in that ancient
city. The barber had a multitude of medical complaints from pain in his brain
to bleeding piles. He asked for my views of the diagnosis and treatment for his
diverse conditions. While I tried to make sense of his many health problems, he
took good care of my hair. Although I paid full fare for his services, he got
his medical advice free of charge.
For over three decades, I lived in
the leafy suburb of Letchworth in Hertfordshire. In this quaint little town, I went to an
Italian barber. He was in his early forties and spoke English with a charming
Italian accent. He was a walking encyclopaedia of Roman history.
His detailed descriptions and
wonderful narratives brought to life the grandeur and the many tragedies of Roman
history. I still recall his stories most fondly. He charged me for the hair cut
but the lessons in history were complimentary.
After retiring from all
professional work, I returned to live in London. I have used many barbers in the
city. The nearest was an émigré from Hong Kong. After the former British colony
went back to Mainland Chinese control some residents were unhappy. My Chinese
barber expressed his displeasure about the politics in his country and
swivelled the scissors aggressively as he lost his temper. My other barber is
an Egyptian who had similar issues about the Middle east and the plight of the Palestinians.
A hair cut is a good time for an exchange of views. I have always been a good
listener not wanting to upset the barber with my personal views. After all the
barber had all the necessary implements to cause serious damage to anyone
crossing his path.
Many hairdressing salons in the UK provide special dispensations for senior citizens. They are offered
discounted haircuts. I have made use of this privilege often. On one occasion, I
found that my usual hairdressers were busy. I ventured further to find a large
salon in a posh part of the city. As I stepped in, I was simply mesmerised by
its elegance. This was the crème de la crème of hair salons. The guy who ushered me in said this was a one-stop beauty shop providing cuts, colour and styling, complete with hair and facial massage and also a blow dry. He said the
price starts at £100. This was a far cry from my usual £15 no-frills haircut.
He showed me the seat where I would be indulged and pampered for an hour. The
chair was fit for a Prince. The hairdresser wasn’t surprised to hear from me
that I was a pensioner in search of a cheap haircut. He politely ushered me out
into the afternoon sunshine. It was much later that I learnt this was a flagship
salon frequented by the rich and famous.
The Covid-19 epidemic hit us all
like a tsunami. With the lockdown we were housebound for months. As all human
gatherings and meetings were discouraged. Barber shops were closed for business.
Many electric shavers, cutters and trimmers were sold on the internet for would-be DIY barbers. There were detailed visual instructions on YouTube how to cut
your own hair with an electric hair trimmer. I viewed many of them and bought a
machine but lacked the courage to use it on myself. A wrong move can have such
ominous consequences!! The task to keep my hair under control fell to my dear
wife who did so without much coaxing or complain. I had the traditional short
back and sides with a trim at the top, in my garden, under a blue sky and a
gentle breeze.
Hairstyles have played a
significant role in men’s fashion, changing and evolving with the passing of
time. The side parting and the crew cut of the early 20th century
gave way to many variations and to the more recent spiky hair. With all the
past trends and modern innovations, we must find the perfect hairstyle that suits
us. Unlike for the lucky ladies, for us men hair cutting will always remain a
necessity until the end of our lives. After all, when the hair stops growing, nothing ever will matter anymore!!
