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There are two schools of people: those who spill every last detail of their lives to their hairdresser, and those who bury their noses in an out-of-date copy of GQ in the hope of getting through the chop in silence. But one London barber thinks ‘sharing in the chair’ could make a huge difference to men’s mental health.
Pall Mall Barbers is asking similar London businesses to join the ‘The Lions Barbers Collective’, an international ‘brotherhood’ of male grooming parlours that want to raise awareness for the prevention of male suicide. According to the Samaritans Suicide Statistics Report for 2017, men in the UK are three times more likely to commit suicide than women.
Dan Davies, the manager at Pall Mall Barbers, told Time Out, ‘As men, it is often seen as a manly thing to show off scars or broken bones from work or sport, but if there is something not right in our heads we can often keep it bottled up so that we do not lose face.’ Davies believes a barber has the opportunity to act as an objective ear, giving men a chance to open up and share issues they may feel uncomfortable disclosing to friends, adding: ‘the bond with a barber or hairdresser is one of no judgement’.
A Bermondsey barber shares his London story.
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