Life on Tapp: The barbers’ is still very much a place of sanctuary
For many men, especially those who have got out of the habit of going to the pub, the barbers’ is still very much a place of sanctuary.
Blaise Tapp writes: While these establishments are not necessarily always male-only environments, it is generally accepted that the conversation tends to cover football, cars, the price of beer and, erm, football. My local barbers’ is my go-to-place, whenever the lawn needs mowing or the tip needs visiting.
Even though my haircut of choice is a number two all-over, followed by a general tidy up of the beard that my darling kids say makes me resemble Roald Dahl’s Mr Twit, my regular jaunts to the barbers can see me be out of the house for two hours. The place I go to operates a first come, first served policy and the vast majority of us are prepared to wait as long as it takes, because where else can you talk utter cobblers and read a newspaper without any interference for the best part of an entire morning?
Although I no longer leave it too long between haircuts, I do quite enjoy watching the transformation of some fellow patrons, especially those who clearly haven’t been under the clippers for a good four months. I also marvel at the bottle of some of these chaps when it comes to their hairstyle of choice.
Back in 1980s’ Stockport there were two choices of style – short back and sides or the classic pudding basin cut, a brutal look which pre-dated the briefly fashionable ‘Madchester’ version of the early ‘90s. These days blokes, even those with proper, grown up jobs, are far more daring when it comes to their Barnets with some sporting undercuts, Mohicans and, most puzzling of all, the mullet – short on top and down to the neck at the back.
Believe it or not, the mullet has been described by some fashion watchers as the haircut of 2024, which doesn’t really say a great deal for all the others. However, take a trip into any town centre on a Friday evening and you will soon spot well turned-out fellas wearing mullets without a hint of irony.
As a young teenager, I briefly copied England football hero Chris Waddle and sported a terrible mullet before I succumbed to peer pressure and got rid of it. How long the 21st Century version of the mullet will be in our lives is uncertain but, one thing is for sure, there will always be an army of barbers on hand to provide us with the haircut of the day, while helping us get out of household chores.