Public Address | Cafe | Southerly: In Praise of Arthur

Jonty

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:05:04 +1200

Someone mentioned earlier that barber's shops were places where blokes could get their condoms (and for young blokes, less embarrassment than having to confront the lady at the chemists who knew yer Mum).
I grew up in a village in England and, as a kid, my Dad would sometimes take…

Joe Wylie

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:41:53 +1200

I used to go to Frank in Vivian Street, under the Trade Hall.

What is it about barbers & trades halls? There's a barbershop tucked away under the hall in Sydney's Haymarket. In the early 2000s the old Aussie battler barber packed it in and the lease was taken over by…

slarty

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:11:50 +1200

I would like to nominate this entire post as the epitome of all that is great about the interweb. It's the online equivalent of those conversations over a pint on a long winters evening.

Oh, and Kyle?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EY7lYRneHc

Jason Dykes

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:43:20 +1200

Another great thing about barbers is that they don't lure poor students into their premises with offers of free haircuts in order to perform experiments on them. The free haircut offer is a euphemism for a "styling" in which you have no say, deportation to an apprentice hairdresser competition and…

Paul Williams

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:50:06 +1200

I should note that the thing a real barber is good for is a shave with a cutthroat razor. There's nothing like being wrapped in a scalding towel and emerging minus a couple of layers of facial epidermis. Makes a man feel alive.

I have finally accepted that nothing; no…

Ben Austin

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 06:37:57 +1200

Last time I regularly used a barber was while in Dunedin for university. Selwyn Graves (iirc) of lower Moray Place/George St was an institution back then, and last time I looked he was still there. He also was the provider of choice for snuff, for that brief month long period…

Emma Hart

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 12:30:14 +1200

Few of the landmark shops/businesses are left... Mr Smiles, Mr Munch Scoop 'N Save, the Comic Shop, 4 book shops, the electical repair shop, Silvios Records, the Market, the Recording Studios to name but a few.

It's not just the rents, either. I know one of those bookshops (and the…

Ian Cousins

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 22:45:54 +1200

David... I can confirm that it was the usual practice for a Barber to conclude the service with:

"A little Bay Rum sir?.... Aftershave?.... A pack of (name your brand here)... certainly Sir and something for the weekend perhaps?"

the latter referring to the condoms.. as my associate is often…

David Haywood

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 22:26:10 +1200

Having just got back to PA after a few busy days...

Skinny:

I very much enjoyed your blog. The photo of the West Coast barber's shop is brilliant!

Ian Cousins:

Likewise I enjoyed your account from the other side of the barbers' chair. A sports-free zone would suit me --…

Ian Cousins

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 17:26:43 +1200

While not wishing to stray too far from the subject matter, Cuba Street is changing. Rent increases have driven out most of the small businesses that gave the area its charm and sense of community. An increase in rent from 20K to 52K in one jump saw me leave my…

Jackie Clark

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 16:36:10 +1200

How funny, Ian, that you should talk about Cuba St. In the paper this morning, there's a lovely article all about Cuba St by Grant Smithies. I went to Marsden and spent a lot of time wandering up and down Cuba St as a teenager. It was a delight to…

Ian Cousins

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 14:43:42 +1200

I'm surprised you have so few hairdressers reading... I'm a Barber – for those in Wellington I used to be THE BARBER based in Cuba Street (cybercafe at the rear of the shop)... I'm now in the Willis Street Village.

Pete, who works with me, is the last Barber in…

Skinny

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 20:52:33 +1200

I'm a great fan of the barber. Sadly it's getting harder and harder to find a good one. I used to go to Frank in Vivian Street, under the Trade Hall. You could be guaranteed to talk about Rugby, and to listen in on his conversations with his regular bevy…

Joe Wylie

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 23:15:43 +1200

Unisex hairdressers:
http://bp2.blogger.com/_XA1s6WgNEqE/RdDzsBKMyqI/AAAAAAAABV4/7BC7418bWz8/s1600-h/coiffeur.jpg

Michael Fitzgerald

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:18:50 +1200

Can't remeber his name but I always pissed him off when playing my "Stalin" (everyone must die) style of chess.
He & my flatmates knew the various styles and I won far too often for them to keep their pretentions up.

Jeremy Andrew

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:19:58 +1200

I knew a bloke who was bald at 13yrs – most evil wit I've ever met

Lex Luthor?

Jackie Clark

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 19:48:49 +1200

You poor buggers – I'm going to be all smug and say that I go to Peggy and Flint at Zulu in Ponsonby Rd. After years of changing hairdresser every few years, I've finally found the right ones. They're fabulous, and I love them. They don't do colour, there's only…

Michael Fitzgerald

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 17:09:15 +1200

I knew a bloke who was bald at 13yrs – most evil wit I've ever met.

Another who was bald before his 21st – all the chicks he tried to pick up thought he was a dirty old man (which oddly worked on occation).

InternationalObserver

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 16:52:17 +1200

Despite my advancing years I have retained my lush, long, golden-brown locks; with nary a nose-hair out of place. Unlike the rest of you sad old gits, it seems.

Leigh Kennaway

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 16:31:33 +1200

Wish the little buggers wouldn't keep migrating from the top of the head to other less attractive locations

Why do they do that?!?!?! My hair-genes can't decide if they should follow the grand-dad who went bald, or my father who went grey.... meanwhile my eyebrows not only grow to astonishing…

Emma Hart

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:57:19 +1200

George Clooney men, George Clooney. By the same token Kim Hill doesn't look half bad with her crop of grey.

I didn't fancy George Clooney before he went grey. I love grey hair so much I love my own grey hair.

rodgerd

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:51:32 +1200

I have to assume she was using scissors to cut it. It looks like she used a tiny enraged pomeranian. Either as the cutting device, or the model.

The worst hair cut I have ever had was when I was working in Dudley (outside Birmingham). It was awful. It made…

rodgerd

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:48:23 +1200

This raises a very interesting point. I also loathe having to make awkward conversation with strangers (it actually gave me hives on one occasion) so maybe I prefer a barber simply because of the strict conversational protocol.

I have a hairdresser (Clubman in Left Bank, if anyone cares) who has…

kmont

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:47:51 +1200

He used to have a handlebar mustache until "the young folks started to do it in an ironic way". There was a ponytail involved.

andrew llewellyn

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:42:59 +1200

I'll start on my goatee & ponytail too.

andrew llewellyn

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:42:01 +1200

I am so glad NZ men don't get into dying their hair to cover grey

I've been urged to now & then since I was oh... 25 or so. Got so far as to interrogate a chemist shop person shortly before my 40th – thought it'd be a wheeze to turn…

kmont

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:40:57 +1200

Well my dad decided it would be good to dye his hair and his GOATEE black for my uni graduation. Granted my best friend I were doing it......but FFS.
George Clooney men, George Clooney. By the same token Kim Hill doesn't look half bad with her crop of grey.

Jeremy Andrew

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:36:31 +1200

I am so glad NZ men don't get into dying their hair to cover grey

You'd be surprised – I know a few.
Not me though, I'm happy to have 'em no matter what colour they are. Wish the little buggers wouldn't keep migrating from the top of the head…

kmont

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:20:13 +1200

"The firm was founded as an intelligent, volatile fusion of philosophy, commerce and ethically opportunistic management."

WTF!

I am also loving Ron, the Managing Director in thinking chin in hand pose. Sidebar – I am so glad NZ men don't get into dying their hair to cover grey.

Russell Brown

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:10:48 +1200

lol@bent twig

Difficult as it is to believe, benttwig.com is taken ...

http://www.benttwig.com/

"The firm was founded as an intelligent, volatile fusion of philosophy, commerce and ethically opportunistic management."

Eh?

Russell Brown

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:08:07 +1200

The bestest barbers though are in Turkey... I visited several in different regions and they were all equally good. Shampoo, condition, cut, trim with cut-throat razor, scalp massage, and most amazing.... using a little ball of burning cotton on a long stick to singe away those pesky ear hairs. Sounds…

Jeremy Andrew

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 14:56:20 +1200

Bent twig? Luxury!...

Rebecca Williams

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 14:53:45 +1200

lol@bent twig

Don Christie

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 14:31:42 +1200

It is said "a bad haircut is only a week away from being good."

I live my life, from week to week, in hope.

andrew llewellyn

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 14:26:43 +1200

Heh... reminds me of a "cafe" on Koh Samui.

Rumour had it that you only had to ask for "Big Chicken" which was not on the menu, and for 200bt you got an ounce of something not much like chicken.

Mark Simmonds

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 14:16:07 +1200

He was rumoured to sell condoms...

Yes, I remember my brother telling me (this is back in the '60s) that our local barber sold condoms under the counter and that there was some sort of protocol involved- something to do with the way the money was handed over – this…

Jeremy Andrew

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:57:48 +1200

using a little ball of burning cotton on a long stick to singe away those pesky ear hairs. Sounds frightening, looked dramatic, but really cool!

Wouldn't want to volunteer for the apprentices to practise on!

Leigh Kennaway

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:56:09 +1200

My earliest barber memories were of the Lincoln Rd barber in Henderson.... or Da Linkdabarber as my younger brother called him..... sitting in his chair and listening to the wireless as Neil Armstrong got ready to walk on the moon.

The bestest barbers though are in Turkey... I visited several…

Jeremy Andrew

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:55:34 +1200

(Establishment called "The Sharing Shed")

I've always avoided that place, for 3 reasons:
1) No hair no more :-)
2) The mrs took the kids there, and they got some awful trims.
3) Most importantly, the name offends my sense of English language pedantry. There's no sharing happening there, either…

81stcolumn

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:40:35 +1200

Son – Your hair is like your wage packet full and bursting with potential on Friday night. Enjoy it and make sure you remember how it went – By Monday it will be gone…….

Possibly the most useful thing my Dad ever said. I set a family record by having…

merc

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:40:25 +1200

Well, I *do* like pina coladas. And getting caught in the rain.

See! Same humour...boy is it going to be weird when I get home tonight.

Merc: So, did you erm, have any pina collada's today me luf?
The Contessa: What on earth are you on about now?

Kyle Matthews

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:26:27 +1200

Hmmm, must be a generation thing. I have only every been to hairdressers and usually female ones.
To me the shampooing and cutting is an intimate act. The sort that I would only wish a female to do.

Yes, definitely a generation thing. I 100% prefer a female hairdresser, and…

Danielle

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:23:24 +1200

Danielle, I swear, you're my wife aren't you...(considers this possibility)...now that would be weird.

Well, I *do* like pina coladas. And getting caught in the rain.

I also loathe having to make awkward conversation with strangers (it actually gave me hives on one occasion) so maybe I prefer a barber…

Jeremy Andrew

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:15:22 +1200

David, I think the phrase you're looking to google is "A little something for the weekend, Sir?"

David Haywood

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:53:42 +1200

Raymond A Francis wrote:

He was rumoured to sell condoms...

My Scottish grandfather once astonished me by revealing that many blokes (perhaps including himself, he was a little non-specific on the topic) purchased condoms from the barber.

Does anyone have any intelligence on barber-supplied condoms in NZ? It seems to…

merc

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:52:16 +1200

Let your freak flag fly!

Muriel Lockheed

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:46:10 +1200

I loathe going to the hairdresser, because damn it they never listen to what you say half the time. I always instruct, look I don't do hairdryers, I don't do product, and I don't live to faff about with my hair everyday, so give me something I don't have to…

Josh Addison

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:45:29 +1200

I've always been one for low maintenance hair. For a long time I had long hair, where styling meant tying it into a ponytail and getting my hair cut happened maybe three times a year. Eventually a combination of regular physical exercise and warm summers were enough to motivate me…

Raymond A Francis

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:44:39 +1200

That took me back a looooong time ,when a short back and sides cost...$1 about the last time anyone other than my wife cut my hair

Jimmy Jones cut my hair then and I am pretty sure I took one of my sons to him before he retired so that…

Emma Hart

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:42:38 +1200

Oddly, two days ago I had the worst haircut of my entire life (if you exclude 80s spiral perms I thought were great at the time). My regular woman wasn't there, and I didn't want to deal with the guy who cuts in the chair nearest the window who seems…

Thom James

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:33:10 +1200

I fell victim to a 'hilarious' drunken game of scissors at the weekend, you know, taking a sly chop out of your unwitting mate's hair. Got a bit out of hand though. I now resemble the 'before' photo from a Propecia ad. Think my hairdresser will be reduced to tears…

David Haywood

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:03:48 +1200

Danielle wrote:

I really hate making stilted conversation for an hour with someone I don't know very well...

This raises a very interesting point. I also loathe having to make awkward conversation with strangers (it actually gave me hives on one occasion) so maybe I prefer a barber simply because…

Phil Sargent

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:53:03 +1200

She doesn't need to ask how I want it, non waste her time trying to start a conversation and she is kinda cute. Though she does always point out new grey hairs.

Maybe its in the hairdresser syllabus : mine does this also.

Hamboy

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:43:17 +1200

Hmmm, must be a generation thing. I have only every been to hairdressers and usually female ones.
To me the shampooing and cutting is an intimate act. The sort that I would only wish a female to do.
For some reason it's just not the same when a male hairdresser…

Don Christie

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:33:06 +1200

My ex-barber was a lady who was also a body builder. Sometimes I would scare myself by making mild criticisms of her styling skills. Then her muscles would flex, nostrils dilate and I swear my head started looking like a wine cork in her eyes.

Lesser mortals dodge buses in…

Robyn Gallagher

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:24:03 +1200

I spend about $220 getting my hair cut and coloured every couple of months. My hairdresser is awesome. She gets my hair.

I used get it cut cheaply and to do a DIY dye job, but I always ended up looking about five years older and like I should have…

Ian MacKay

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:19:13 +1200

My regular barber is a woman who does a short back and sides regardless of what you ask for. Last time I was lamenting the waste of all that hair on the floor. She said that usually a man calls for it to feed to his worm farm but had…

merc

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:13:21 +1200

Danielle, I swear, you're my wife arn't you...(considers this possibility)...now that would be weird.
Mikey in Mt Eden, now there's a barber...

Russell Brown

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:09:12 +1200

I should note that the thing a real barber is good for is a shave with a cutthroat razor. There's nothing like being wrapped in a scalding towel and emerging minus a couple of layers of facial epidermis. Makes a man feel alive.

Now ... must ... work ...

Danielle

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:03:02 +1200

I am possibly the only woman in Auckland who cuts and dyes her own hair. I really hate making stilted conversation for an hour with someone I don't know very well, all the while staring grimly at my increasingly weird-looking visage. And the magazines always suck.

(Hi, I'm Danielle and…

Rik

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:56:27 +1200

Can't beat ESQ in Grey Lynn...cute chicks (ladies for the PC-impaired) cutting at barbers rates ($10 for balding). They even offer you a beer sometimes if it is late in the day. Conversation is a bit all over the place though.

Evan Yates

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:42:31 +1200

I am a patent vacillator when it comes to haircuts.

Sometimes on a lazy Saturday morning I like to go to the "lovely young foreign lady with an exotic accent" (Establishment called "The Sharing Shed"). She does good haircuts but takes about 20 minutes to finish the job.

Last time…

Don Christie

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:13:51 +1200

On my third visit he brushed his hand against my trousers in a manner such as to constitute sexual assault.

Reminds me of a song I once knew. What happened on Sunday, after supper?

Jeremy Andrew

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:02:47 +1200

I used to go to the Barber's Club in town, $15 for a clipper cut, shampoo to get the itchy bits out, chat about stock cars & rugby & manly stuff, and a glass of OJ (I don't drink coffee, otherwise ot would have been an espresso). Can't top that for value…

andrew llewellyn

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 08:26:29 +1200

I pay him with stolen television.

he's THAT nervous about the kiwi dollar?

Steven's mine, been doing it for... well since about 1990, but it was a different Steven then who sold to the new one a few years later.

Or maybe he regenerated or something.

Michael Fitzgerald

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:24:20 +1200

Joy of the failling folicals – No.1 (or no comb) once or twice a week done by me – free is a good price to pay.
Downside I do have to avoid black T-shirts and my perscription black wrap around sunglasses being worn together.

Russell Brown

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 23:32:01 +1200

I've never had a lot of luck with barbers. There was the clumsy git who slipped me a sixpence to make up for cutting my ear when I was little. (I don't actually recall this, but it was a matter of family lore. And yes, it was pre-decimal currency.)

Then…

Public Address

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 23:32:01 +1200

Discussion from blog post.