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memories

dennis

master brummie
Funny how little things of life come back to you,
I was lying in bed last night,and out of the blue came  this little
piece of nostalgia,For the men among us,
How many remember going to the barber's for an haircut
and the barber used to give you a "singe" as well ? :)
 
Sylvia Sayers may be able to get a little bit more info on that for you folks. I used to have my hair cut by her bloke Ray, I cant remember him singing peoples hair but another hairdresser we went to in Inkerman Street I think? used to singe hair, and I always worried that he would do mine, it smelled awful? I was a very small child and maybe my memories are a bit different to what actually happened, anxieties do that.
 
How many of you had your hair cut by Wally Brannigan in Church Lane, Aston?  His short-bladed scissors were in constant motion - almost like a nervous tick. Maybe that's what scared my brother the Nipper - he howled all the way there if he knew that's where he was going. :'(
 
Well either a short back and sides or if you were really daring a 'Boston'
 
P.S.
Why is it now I've got the money to have any haircut I want, I've got no hair left to cut?
 
Am I dating myself by admitting that I have had the singe job.

A spittoon place down Billesley in the early fifties. He would light a wax taper and the trick was to apply it the the side and back of the head immediately above a comb as it ran down the cut hair.

Was told it would prevent one getting a cold by sealing the hair ends. As a kid I believed it and still caught my colds......Will.
 
Never mind ,
giving your age away,who cares that's
what I say the older you get,
the more memories you have ;D ;D
 
:angel: Good point Dennis . :)

Our Mom would sit me and my sister down put a basin on our head and cut round it, my brother went to the Baber's on Great Lister St, loved walking passed that shop it had a great smell. I would go in there sometimes with my friend Carol to take her little brother for his hair-cuts.
 
I used to have a "crewcut" in the summer I dont know why cus I was and still am a chilly mortal, I have a photo of me on holiday in a polo neck jumper.

Or i had the "Beatle cut"

Me dad had the "tony curtis"
 
Ray only works one day a week now, but he has a customer who still likes a singe. Trouble is getting the tapers we looked everywhere and finally found some in a candle shop in Bromsgrove. When he was still working full time Ray used to frighten to death the young bloods by showing them how to strop an open razor (he didn't use it on them) but used to years ago when some customers still liked the barber to shave them.
 
As a boy I had the worst haircuts in the world..
Bits of it stuck up everywhere, and because my one ear starts somewhere off my left shoulder while my right one's on the top of my head..I looked kinda lopsided too..
My Dad always had this unruly tuft that stuck up at the back of his head, the funny part was Dad only put the brylcream on that bit..
Me and my brothers really did suffer back then.
There were two types of Butchers shops in those days..the ones that sold meat and the ones that cut my hair..
I honestly think David Blunkett could have cut my hair better than these guys..They did two styles...short back and sides and hide in the cupboard ...the third option was a basin..
I walked round with pastry in my hair for weeks.
And on the odd occasions we could afford a Barber  they put that much brylcreme on me I went home leaking more oil than the Torey Canyon.
Pat Egan laughed at me the one time, oh sure, these days the spikey hair look can be seen on lots of people..but this was the early 60's and I sat there in class looking like a red hedgehog..
Uncle Les used Vaseline on his head, he put that much on him we were kept awake all night as he slid in and out of his bed..
David used soap to hold his down ..not for long though, he went bald by the time he was 30...hmm..I wonder why?
Its the blue rinse brigade that kill me though..
Why anyone decides blue hair makes them look a tad more appealing to other folks is beyond me..
Apologies of course to Pom, Angie, Grace, Rod and Diana...
Something for the weekend Sir?
Yes, I'd like a bloody wig to hide this haircut please...
 
When we were kids we had the short back and sides - no choice

When we were teenagers in the sixties me and my pals used to go to an Italian barbers where we had the full works - stylish haircut, shampoo and blow wave
As far as I remember it used to cost about half a quid, a lot of money in them days when an ordinary haircut cost about half a crown

No blow waves these days, I've waved goodbye to me hair and it's a bitter blow :-\
 
When you had your haircut the "grown ups " would tap you on the head 3 times and say BARBERS KNOCK 1 2 3  >:(
 
The answer JY is Duck's Anatomy :smitten:

Yes Sylvia I do rmember the TC, Brian's hair fell naturally into one. His younger sister's friends thought he was 'with it'.
 
POMGOLIAN.‚.. Hi did you mean George Mann's in Great Lister Street ? l used to get annoyed when my hair used to get in my eyes and now l only wish it would, l seem to remember starting off in one position either on the chair or behind it then the position changed as the years went by and l grew taller. l always thought that was a myth about the basin. Oh l use to have a DA and Tony Curtis ( Self Fashioned ) and long sideboards, yes thats right sideburns came in later didnt they ?
 
Chris talk about a hair cut - I remember my dad would sit me down and cut my hair to just below my ears - I would be devasted because my friend Winnie Marlow would have her waist length hair put up in rags every night by her mom - Then to walk to school with Winnnie and see what I thought was beautiful wavy hair made me so envious you wouldn't believe. . I wonder where she is now. . I wish I knew. . .I have lost contact. . .
 
re hair

GER22VAN.I had hair all down my back when i was young,none on my head,just down my back.It is very very windy here today ernie.the power,keeps going on and off.it is very annoying.the pc keeps re starting.
pete
 
Hello Pete. One thing I have hardly ever done is worry about my hair loss, it used to be " hair today , gone tomorrow ":headhit: . Now most of it has gone. The only thing that stays in place is my satellite dish with this wind I am surprised.
 
singe

I vividly remember my old man taking me for a haircut at the co-op in Stirchley. When I saw all the kids sat up on those wooden seats they used to put across the arms of the chair, so that they could reach you, and the sight of the "FLAMING TORCHES" (tapers) they were attacking the heads with. That was it, I was off. I remember my old man laughing his head off.
I still have an aversion to Barbers, my hair is shoulder length:cool:
 
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