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HAIRCUT !!

silhouette53

silhouette53

master brummie
I guess this is in the right forum as it is a barbers shop I'm 'on about'

Anyone remember the barber shop in Gerrard Street near Furnace lane ?  It was run by a man named Albert Marshall and I would be taken there for my 'short back & sides' as a child in the late fifties / early sixties.  He would put a seat adaptor across the arms of the chair and I would be lifted onto it to have my hair cut.  Afterwards I used to like the bristly feel of the hair at the back.  Back 'up the yard' all the other kids would be shouting "Haircut" !  In the pic it looks like Albert had recently 'had a go at me' and it must be close to Xmas as theres the tatty old Xmas tree in the background ! Very poor, but VERY happy
 
Such a lovely photo Colin. You were a handsome little chap. :)

The wallpaper brings back memories, after the war wallpaper was very much the 'in' thing, and the bigger the pattern the better.
 
Lovely photo indeed. You know, many people had those Christmas trees in the years after WW2. We certainly had one and it got scrunched under the stairs after Xmas and came out looking more bedraggled every year. It was hard to buy any decorations for Christmas and the type of tinsel we had simply went rusty. Woolworths was the place to find some strange looking ornaments. A friend of my Mothers who lived abroad sent us some glass ones from Czechoslavakia. Not many but they were glass very fragile indeed. They certainly brightened up the old "scraggle" tree. We also had a few lights which, of course, took hours to work.
Patience was indeed a virtue back then. Love the balloon.
 
Was that barbers on the corner of Guildford Street? If it was then I went there as well every fortnight. Here is a sample
 
Thanks for these replies ! :)

Jennyann :  There are a few glass baubles on the tree but you'll notice also the 'home made' ones too - silver paper from cigarette packets, rolled into balls and threaded onto a length of cotton ! 


Michael :  No, the barbers was actually on Gerrard Street, halfway between Guildford Street and William Street - I've drawn (badly) a little sketch map to show where.  As they say, X marks the spot !
 
My barbers was on a corner up the top of Guildford Street near Gerrard Street, I have looked in my 1946 Kelly's. There were two listed in Gerrard Street at that time. Number 178, George Ford and number 6 Walter Martin. When I went to Grammar school I often went to one in Grove Lane and smetimes in the Soho Road, Handsworth. In 1946 there was and Arthur Hamm in Grove Lane. The last Barber I went to in Birmingham was Greatrex in town.
 
Gosh Michael, that name brings back memories. I went to Greatrex when I was feeling flush. :)

It was close to Snow Hill station.
 
Greatrex was right posh if I remember rightly. I had long hair until I was almost twelve and then my Mother took me to a long time hairdressers in Cannon Street to have my hair shorn since they didn't encourage long hair at the school I was going to. I hated the style and losing my long red hair. That hairdressers just at the New Street end was there for years. Does anyone remember the name please?
 
Just been checking inthe 1950 Kelly's. In that year there were two hairdressers in Cannon Street. One on the right only a few yards going up from New Street was:
3 Cannon Street - Batt, Hy. Thos., Ltd., hairdressers.
The other was on the opposite side. close to Cherry Street:
18 Cannon Street - Greatrex, W. J., Ltd., hairdrssrs.
Does that bring back any memorties?
Peter
 
Hey Jennyann, If you happened to keep your long red hair, I just might know someone on this forum that might want to buy it off you >:D
 
And who would that be? I have long flowing beautiful red hair! (please see enclosed proof)
 
Think I'm on the wrong forum; havto move up an age group or two...hmm..but I do have more hair than im.
 
Haircuts??
remember the barber used to give
our hair a singe after cutting it ,
supposed to have made it healthy!!!!! ;D
 
I use to sweep up in the barbers on the corner of Rocky Lane and the stink when he singed someones hair was unreal he said it was to stop the hair from bleeding (I was gonna swear then but i cannot )
But ya can guess what I thought
 
In my teens I got my haircut at Charlie's (?) on the corner of Wheeler St.& Gower St.
At the time he had a "learner" named Len.
When we moved to Burntwood in 1967 the same Len opened his own shop just round the corner.
He has cut my hair ever since, and is still going strong.
 
My father in law came around yesterday and we were chatting about haircuts....prices etc..........

He used to go to one in or by Phillips Street - 'a great wet shave' for 6d, and he was telling me that the barber kept up his own trade, he used to stand in the doorway and say ' Dennis, I have an empty chair - you're due for a haircut'
 
Cromwell, I recall having my hair cut at a Barbers in Rocky Lane, but I have visions of it being somewhere in the middle of the row of houses that faced Tubes Ltd, ( where I worked ), any ideas ? BazzM
 
BazzM Coming from Cromwell Street turn left into Rocky Lane and it was just their a few houses down
Cannot remember Tubes Ltd only sweetshops intrested me at the time
 
Re # 13 It's hard to chose Les, Roz is certainly a lovely looking lady. But then, the beer....... I just don't know. Anyway....I still haven't come to grips with your statement of Roz earning twice as much as a PLUMBER!!!!! That must make her pretty special. :)
 
I used to go to a barber on Witton Rd near six ways. can't remember the name, but the experience used to terrify me.
 
My local barber was Ben Tooth,
he has his business on the Kings Road Beggars Bush
and he always gave us lads a singe
 
"Something for the weekend Sir?'


As a child I used to have my hair cut in the back room of Hinks a Newsagent by the Scott's Arms. Mr Hinks’s son practiced his hair cutting skills on all those who dared to venture down the hallway to the backroom. There were two Barbers chairs although I could never understand why for he worked alone. They were large leather affairs with chromium pedestals and a pump action foot lever to make it rise and fall, if you were good he’d release it with a foot pedal and you’d drop as if in slow motion. My Mom always took me because I used to hate going and if entrusted to go by myself would return home with the excuse that it was half day closing. Anyway, I think she enjoyed the thrill of sitting in what was usually one of the last bastions of male domains. She must have taken delight in being there when Mr. Hinks had finished a gentleman’s hair cut and asked “anything for the weekend sir”? This used to puzzle me because if the answer was yes or more usually an embarrassed nod and a wink Mr Hinks would slide open a drawer and with ‘slight’ of hand slip a small packet into a white paper bag. What could he be selling, there were plenty of hair related products on show but the contents of the drawer were to remain a mystery for many years to come to which I’ll relate at the end of this tale.
Mr Hinks had a routine for cutting young boys hair. He would place a small plank across the chair arms to raise the condemned to the correct height for shearing. This was always a traumatic occasion for me and the precursor for remarks about my ears at school the next day. He would tuck a paper towel roughly down my neck then whisk a striped coverall gown over you. His shears were attached to a cantilever mechanism, which pivoted from the ceiling. He would look towards Mom and ask “how would you like him done”? Mom knew how sensitive I was about my ears and would say “just a trim please”. Now whether he was deaf or just didn’t care I’ll never know but he always heard that as a request for the style he had learnt during National Service: short .. back ...and.. sides. The shearing would be over in a trice leaving the striped shroud covered in clumps of hair the size of mice. Next he would reach for his silver scissors which were kept on the shelf beneath the magic mirror that reflected his mastery. I once saw him inadvertently put his scissors into his mug of Tea that Mrs. Hinks had brought him. He realised immediately the mistake he’d made with the mug and the jug of TCP sterilising concoction and quickly wiped them on what he thought was a towel that was draped over my arm but in fact it was my school blazer. He took a sip of tea and continued. He could wield and click faster than Billy the Kid could discharge his colt and when he'd finished I always ended up looking like the convict ‘Magwhich’ from David Copperfield.
As a child mirrors were a mystery to me, how was it that when you looked into them your reflection was switched and left became right and right became left? Did that mean we could never see ourselves as others see us. I still can’t get my head round that conundrum and believe that this was the trigger point in which I became a philosopher.

Sometimes Mr Hinks would have a queue of customers waiting when I went in. I liked to watch him cut other victims hair, he always appeared to know what he was doing and they always ended up looking the same, it was as if he worked to a blue print. If there was an old man in the chair, after he’d finished the hair cutting part he would attend to the ‘extras’ that were particular to men of a certain age. He would trim their eyebrows and although I never saw him do it trim their nasal hair, he must have done that too when he shielded his reflection in the mirror. Best of all was when he attended to ‘ear hair’ some men had enormous growths like a bust sofa. Mr. Hinks would light a long wax taper and stick it in their ear, there would be a whoosh followed by a few frantic flips of the towel. A dangerous procedure, I sensed the shop could go up in smoke at anytime. Before he removed the gown you had the choice of a dab of Brylcreem or a light spray of fine mist cologne just like the DDT spray the school nurse sometimes used on her springtime visit.

When I was a little older I rebelled against the Rudolph Valentino style centre parting my dad was intent on. I wanted to take command of my destiny, to do my bit to save the whale and go without Brylcreem. I tried various alternatives and particularly liked Trugel. I tried many hair styling liquids which my sister filled our bathroom with but best of all was Sterilised milk. If you dribbled a bit onto a comb, capillary action would soak up the milk and spread it between the teeth; this aided an even application, it was easy to get a Cliff Richard's wave or best of all a Billy J Kramer. It would remain intact all day. There was down side though, which left a legacy to this day; cats still find me fascinating. My hair may have long since gone but the smell lingers on.
 
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Lovely read Apollo..thanks.. I used to have to tke my youngest brother to Bill's the barber on Stockland Green and so I was witness to a young boy child being at the receiving end of the clippers and the fast as lightening scissors.
My brother used to help Bill out and go and fetch the hard board that he had to sit on whilst the hair cut was taking place. I can remember Bill being a bit chatty and entertaining customers whilst they waited their turn and that is when the clippers would do their damage to my brother's ears:Aah: Fortunately, it wasn't too often.

Hairdresser's and barbers were fascinating places years ago. In my Stockland Green memories pages I wrote about going to visit my Mother when she received a perm at Mrs. Howard's next to Bramerly's sweet shop on Marsh Hill. It was an all day affair. Mom plugged into all these wires by her very thick hair. We used to take her sandwiches. Cups of tea and a few biccies were standard but not enough if you were having a perm back then. The smell of ammonia was incredible and I usually ran in with the packet of sandwiches and didn't stop for a chat. The place looked like a torture c hamber to me!
 
Apollo's story is a lovely one. I can't attempt to to compare it, as my main recollections are of Lewis's in town, Booth's (brother of the singer Webster Booth, I was told, or Diment's, both on Soho Road, or our local, Alfred Hall at 122 Hawthorn Road. After I started work in town, I used various places there, and remember being told at the tender age of 25 that I was losing my hair and perhaps I would like to try a hair tonic. "rub it in vogorously with your fingertips", he said after I gave him about 6/-. So I did - my hair didn't grow any more but my fingernails grew like beanstalks.
Peter.
 
Haircut

I loved your story Apollo it really made me laugh. My other half was a barber and he often tells this story of years ago about "something for the weekend".

He used to sell the mystery packages and a lubricant, but also at that time he had bought some self assembly models, aircraft, boats etc. Anyway a customer had a package and some gel, fair enough, a few days later he returned saying bl---y hell I like IT but didn't want to get stuck to it - yes you can guess Ray had given him glue instead of the gel.
 
Spho Road Hairdressers.

It's quite a while since Peter's post, but I've only just discovered it. Booth's at 157 Soho Road was first run by Edwin Booth and later taken over by his son, Edgar J Booth, who died at the end of 1965. Indeed, Edwin was the father of the great British tenor, (Leslie) Webster Booth, and Edgar his eldest brother. Leslie was born at the Soho Road address on 21 January 1902. I believe Booth's hairdresser catered for men and women - was it the first unisex hairdresser's in the world?

I am researching the Booth family history, and would love to hear any memories you might have about the family.

Duettists

Peter Walker said:
Apollo's story is a lovely one. I can't attempt to to compare it, as my main recollections are of Lewis's in town, Booth's (brother of the singer Webster Booth, I was told, or Diment's, both on Soho Road, or our local, Alfred Hall at 122 Hawthorn Road. After I started work in town, I used various places there, and remember being told at the tender age of 25 that I was losing my hair and perhaps I would like to try a hair tonic. "rub it in vogorously with your fingertips", he said after I gave him about 6/-. So I did - my hair didn't grow any more but my fingernails grew like beanstalks.
Peter.
Click to expand...
 
Soho Road hairdressers

I apologise for the misprint on the header of my previous post - not Spho Road, but Soho!

duettists said:
Booth's at 157 Soho Road was first run by Edwin Booth and later taken over by his son, Edgar J Booth, who died at the end of 1965.
Duettists
Click to expand...
 
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