A long time ago when I was a young 'Larey' I used to go for my haircut at a place called McDonald's at the top of Howerd street next to Seiman's the photographers.

I was always satisfied with the service excepting when old Mr McDonald used o call in and insisted on having a go himself.

Apart from being old and frail he wore the worst ginger coloured wig that it was possible to find.

It sat on top of his bald head like a ginger coloured grass sod, for a hairdresser it was frightening to be approached by him holding a comb and scissors.

The staff were always embarassed when he took over their customers, I suppose they thought they would never come back again.

They would wait until he cut part of your hair then interrupt him by saying, "I'll finish that off now, Mr McDonald.

I often wondered if he was at all bitter about losing his own hair.

Has anybody else any hairdressing stories or favourite barbers in the city, past or present.

Happy Days!

I used to go to Kenyon's on Middlewood Road across from the library and next to Ron Starling's newsagents shop. I can remember being fascinated as Jack Kenyon used lighted tapers to burn the hair off old men's necks and ears!
He also used to put some green liquid onto my hair after cutting it, and it set like concrete. You could go out in a force 10 gale and not a hair would move!

For some strange reason when I was a teenager I always wanted to get my hair cut at the Haidressers above the Hole in the Road - was it Sherwoods? (just round the corner from Marples)

One day having had enough birthday money etc one Saturday morning I went in - I seem to remember a Wash, Cut and Blow Dry was 15/- (75p) when compared to my 4/- cut at the local barber was an absolute fortune.

So I had the 'works' and i thought I looked the coolest, until i met my mates in town - they all fell about laughing - Political Correctness nowadays forbids me to repeat what I was called - suffice it to say they suggested I should be going for a drink into the BarleyCorn on Cambridge Street.

My first memories are going to Hinchcliffes near the junction of Crookes valley road and Crookesmoor road. I recall sitting on a plank across the chair arms to bring me up to "cutting height". After that it was a very nice Polish chap,who's name escapes me, in Fawcett street.
Ah happy days...... when I still had hair worth cutting!:confused:

If you lived at Handsworth in 60's or 70's as a kid, chances are you'd get dragged to 'Bozzy's.

Not so much a haircut, more like like having an angry Aussie sheep-shearer shave your bonce. "KEEP YOUR HEE-AD STILL"

tough, but cheap!

My first memories are going to Hinchcliffes near the junction of Crookes valley road and Crookesmoor road. I recall sitting on a plank across the chair arms to bring me up to "cutting height". After that it was a very nice Polish chap,who's name escapes me, in Fawcett street.
Ah happy days...... when I still had hair worth cutting!:confused:

Does anyone remember the barber on Upperthorpe? - if I recall he was Polish - he always had a fag permanently glued to his lip - as one finished, another was lit.

I recall that he was the first place I plucked courage to ask for 'something for the weekend'

Many--really many years ago I used to go to Toms on Charles St, considered very posh in those days.
When I came out of the RAF after National Service, I was fed up with service haircuts,especiallywhen it was COs parade,and I did not want to go back to the back street Barbers,fag always on,ankle deep in hair,"one style-to suit all",so I took myself to Toms,all my workmates thought I was crazy,"That much for a haircut!!!"
Seven chairs,all expert stylists,Peter and Stephen Orio,Steve Badjala,I think that is right,he went on to manage the John Fantham salon on Division St, are some of the names I recall, I always had a man called Arthur Holmes to cut my hair for years,he was in the corner of the shop.
It was at Toms I first saw hot towels being administered after someone had had a shave,only seen on films up to then.
After having a haircut at Toms I felt really great,as you say PopT,Happy Days,very happy days!

The first barbers I remember using was Rustlings on Chapel Walk, run by a couple of old guys, although not so old as I am now. If I was feeling flush when I was at school, which was not very often, I used Gilbert Marsh on Union Road, Nether Edge, he had a small shop in a courtyard next to the pub (Cherry Tree) When I got a bit older and Ted styles were all the rage, I used Vic Burgon? on High Street just below Kemsley House. After leaving school I became a bohemian (Beatnick, Hippy or what you will) and didn't have a regular hairdresser until I joined the RAF in 1959. Oh happy days. I still don't have it cut very often nowadays but then I have very little to bother with. :hihi:

When the 'Tony Curtis','D.A'., Chicano, call it what you will, first came out, I'd been left school about a year. One of the lads I'd gone to school with, who, always seemed to be light years in front of everybody else, turned up, one Saturday night, with a Kearney suit and THE haircut. Short on the top, with the 'duck's arse' sides.
It was like 'WOW'. When he eventually condescended to tell us where he had had IT done, everybody got the business as soon as possible.
Where was it? Like you say Harlan, TOMS, the only game in town.

Shaws in town was the place to go for the "Semi Crew" haircut in the late
50's. Otherwise it was either Bayliss's or Tom's (Later Eric's) on Leppings Lane. Kenyons on Middlewood Rd was used when my mother insisted that Jack gave me a proper haircut.

Eric later became a personal friend of mine and is sadly missed.

[QUOTE=Harlan;1910114]Many--really many years ago I used to go to Toms on Charles St, considered very posh in those days.


You had to have a lot of patience if you went to Toms on Saturday .
A very popular spot.
A haircut at Toms ,hand made suits costing 2 weeks wages ,Church's shoes ,Austine Reed shirts.
The epitome of sartorial elegance (or so I thought at the time)
Now i seem to survive on the cast offs of my two sons, with the occasional off the peg suit for weddings.
A constant refrain from my storm and strife "are you going to take that off so I can wash it"?
Sigh!!!
What's the words to that spiritual 'Gone are the days when my heart was young and gay'. 'Gay' being in the original meaning of the word

If you lived at Handsworth in 60's or 70's as a kid, chances are you'd get dragged to 'Bozzy's.

Not so much a haircut, more like like having an angry Aussie sheep-shearer shave your bonce. "KEEP YOUR HEE-AD STILL"

tough, but cheap!

Bozzy's - now that's a name I've not thought about in a long while. Always an "experience" going there for a short back and sides!

Wasn't there a barber on Handsworth with a shop more or less opposite the Turf who was a part-time football ref?

it was the summer of 1977 i was about to have my first school photo took when i Started Ashleigh comp. At the time i had shouler length frizzy hair (luckley no pics are in excistance),so my mum took me to lew Bergins (they had two shops,one above the castle Market and the one i went to)on aldine Court off high street. I remember sat in the chair with keith skues at one side and Roger Moffate on the other both having haicuts,thats before i got to know them.Radio Hallams studios was at the side of aldine court.
Lew Bergins was one of the top barbers in Sheffield,just as well i only wanted a trim.

It was 1962, I was 15 years of age but looked a little older. I visited the barbers on Campo Lane (still there) and when the guy had finished scalping me and I was paying him he said "something for the weekend sir?"

I had no idea what he was talking about or that he was asking a question so I just acted daft, not a difficult task for a 15 year old. I'm 60 now but still colour up whenever I pass the place.

:hihi:

Shaws in town was the place to go for the "Semi Crew" haircut in the late
50's. Otherwise it was either Bayliss's or Tom's (Later Eric's) on Leppings Lane. Kenyons on Middlewood Rd was used when my mother insisted that Jack gave me a proper haircut.

Eric later became a personal friend of mine and is sadly missed.

I remember Shaw's. In the late 50s, they specialized in the "blow-wave." Down at the bottom of West St near the junction with Leopold St., as I recall.

I remember Mr & Mrs Binks on South Rd Walkley, sat on the 'plank', for a short back and sides, Mrs Binks would start the haircut & the old feller would finish it off, followed by a big blob of brylcreem.

Nostalgia, it's a thing of the past

My mum used to take me to Paul Butler's in Ranmoor when I was young which wasn't a problem until I had the "fashionable" long hair of the early-mid 70's. Possibly the first time I ever went in on my own I asked for a "little trim/tidy up" or something like that. I came out with the shortest back and sides I have ever had :o

Nonetheless I eventually used him regularly (after I'd joined the forces) :hihi:

Garnett's in Middlewood Road, c. 1955. Old Mr Garnett was a keen fisherman and the conversation had more to do with spinners, floats and ground bait than permanent waves and sideboards. He had a stuffed pike in a tank. Aged 5 or 6 I was terrified of the thing with its staring eyes and sharp teeth, but at least it meant that I sat still on the plank.

Reading Highnote's contribution took me back! But his memories of Tom's are different from mine. We always went to Tom's on Charles Street when I was a young lad working in town in the 1950's. It was a fortnightly ritual before longer hair became fashionable, but we always dodged Arthur Holmes if we had chance. We'd wait anxiously, counting the number of customers before us, watching and hoping that other chairs would be free when our number was called out, for a light trim by Arthur was more akin to an Army crop, one which brought howls of laughter when we returned to work. If all the assistants had been as diligent as Arthur, Tom's takings would have gone down. It would be three to four weeks before we returned after Arthur's attentions.

And Tom, himself, was someone we dodged. Whether his reputation for a peculiar sexual orientation was deserved, was something about which we speculated. Youngsters, in particular, were always wary of Tom's familiarity when he helped with an outdoor coat. A quick brush down to remove dropped hair was acceptable, an attempt to reach areas where hair was unlikely to have rested was not. However, he was a large, cheerful character, and always smiled as he took post by the door to greet clients and take their money. I remember, in particular, Tom's expertise in removing blackheads from various bits of flab around the neck of a regular, heavily built guy who was reputed to be the manager of a local theatre. Can't recall the cost of a simple trim, though...... it can't have been much to warrant my patronage.

I used to go to Sweeneys down the Moor, (just past Suggs, down the alley way).Used to wait ages to get in the chair, but it was worth the wait.Used to go to a shoeshop just around the corner called Bubble and Squeek they sold the most outragous platform shoes in the early 70s (I should know I used to buy most of them).Used to look an idiot,but didnt we all.Happy days indeed.

PopT: I also remember getting my hair cut at McDonalds - my dad always got his done there and he first took me there when I was around 12 or 13 (up to that time I settled for the "basin cut" at a barbers shop where we lived, on The Manor). I continued getting my hair cut at McDonalds until sometime in the early 70's

During the first few years when I went there "old Mr Mac" would often call in to see how things were going, and if there were any vacant chairs in the shop he'd go outdoors to "hussle-up" some trade by inviting passers-by to: "Step this way for a haircut sir, there's no waiting!" The assistants hated this of course, as they were quite happy to be working at their own speed

There was a lady hairdresser working at McDonalds in the early days, a Miss Braithwaite I think. I liked her to cut my hair as she never complied with my dad's instructions to "scalp him!" But I hated the way she would always pull a hairnet over my hair before applying McDonald's "setting lotion" after finishing the cutting - but at least I had a quiff to die for when she'd done with me . . . . which eventually developed into the DA I sported throughout my "biker years" and beyond

I remember there being two male hairdressers working there too - one of whom moved into another hairdresser's shop further down the road when McDonald's closed. Wish I could remember their names though, as they were always "up for a laugh" - when I was there at least

Tony

Get ya selves down to see Bob at Scotts in the Wicker! It's all been done out now and actually looks like it belongs in the 21st century!!!

My mum used to take me to Paul Butler's in Ranmoor when I was young which wasn't a problem until I had the "fashionable" long hair of the early-mid 70's. Possibly the first time I ever went in on my own I asked for a "little trim/tidy up" or something like that. I came out with the shortest back and sides I have ever had :o

Nonetheless I eventually used him regularly (after I'd joined the forces) :hihi:

Yes, I was on Paul Butler's roll-call. He'd like you if you were in the forces!
Johnny Fantham's on Division Street helped by Steve was a big favourite. As others said, Shaws near Holly St.
Anyone remember Charlie Scrutton by the Grindstone at Crookes?
I recall an Hinchcliffe's on Glossop Road,
Taylors on Surrey Street and Harry Bell's on School Road opposite the bottom of Cobden View Road were other alternatives.
Anyone remember the name of one at the bottom of Netheredge Road, up a couple of steps, almost next to the bowling club?
Going back to the 50's, one on Penistone Road, near Osborns, Tommy Fellows?
Fred Kenyon's Sackville Road, Crookes.

I've just seen a name on another thread which has aided my memory to a barber at the bottom of Netheredge Road in the 60's, Hedley Cammack.

hi
i used to go to a place called charlie blades when i was younger .it was on gower street inside the petrol station .i went with my grandad and his special was short back and sides:hihi:

hi
i used to go to a place called charlie blades when i was younger .it was on gower street inside the petrol station .i went with my grandad and his special was short back and sides:hihi:

any one remember Gabriel's on furnival street, popular with wednesday and united players, catered for men and women.

In the mid 80s I worked in Heeley, so I used to go to a cheap and chearful barbers on Chesterfield Road. I paid £3 for a haircut - essencially a number 3 skinhead.
On 1 occasion I was on Fargate when I decided to get my hair cut. It was a place on Chapel Walk, if I remember correctly. I was told that they "could fit me in tomorrow" and my stylist would be "Suzanne". They quoted £16! 1985 or not, I'm not paying that for someone to run a set of clippers over my skull!
On another note, on 1 occasion when I was in my cheap and chearful barbers in Healey, the girl cutting my hair said I had "fine hair". I thought this was a compliment and thanked her. She meant I was thinning on top! Damn!