Barbers

I first moved to Balham in 1991. At that time there were, I think, two barbers in Balham. For no good reason I started going to Ron's (or was it Don's?) on Chestnut Grove.

Ron (or Don) was getting on a bit and it was just him cutting hair in the shop. I only ever went on a Saturday and it seemed that he was pretty busy, but you never needed to wait too long to get into the chair.

Some time later, Don's (or Ron's) place shut down. I think it was all part of the development of the old dairy buildings into new homes. I assume he sold his shop (which was, I think, also his house) to the developers. I wasn't a frequent enough visitor to find out what his plans were. I just tried to go one week and the shop was closed down.

It turned out the Don/Ron hadn't vanished completely. There was another barber's shop on Harberson Road. I can't remember the name of the barber there - let's call him Eddie. Ron/Don had come to a deal with Eddie whereby he would use one of Eddie's two chairs on Saturdays. That way some of his old customers could still get the haircut they were used to. I used this shop for a while. Eddie always knew who were Ron/Don's customers and would make sure that everyone was dealt with by their barber of choice.

After a while, I stopped going. For a couple of years we had a friend who was a hairdresser who would come in and my wife's and my hair every few months. It was only after that friendship faded that I needed to go and look for a barber again.

In the intervening time, Eddie had closed down too. Eddie's shop was empty for years before turning into Twist, the boutique. Balham had no barbershop. As far as I could see, this was what was happening across the country. Barbershops were becoming largely extinct as men were switching to using hairdressers instead. I started going to Style and Beauty. I still got there today. To be honest, I'm more comfortable with women talking to me about my holidays than I ever was with men trying to talk to me about football.

I assumed that we had seen the last of barbershops. But in the last couple of months, two have opened up in Balham. There's one on Bedford Hill, pretty much opposite Style and Beauty and another on the High Street, next to the HSBC Bank. I've also seen one opening up in Richmond where I'm currently working.

I really thought that barbers were a dying breed. It's nice to see them making a come-back. I haven't yet tried out one of these new shops, but I'm seriously considering it for my next haircut.