BOYS’ CREW CUTS

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28753, 26 November 1958, Page 20

BOYS’ CREW CUTS

Protests Bv Mothers

The mothers of Christchurch I are reported tn be ready to scalp j suburban barbers if they keep' sending their young boys home; with crew cuts. Some mothers ; are outspoker. Many of the barbers have j already bowed the knee, and re- 1 quire a note from all junior ! spacemen and others who ask for ; crew cuts. Several of them like j the short-cropped style themselves, but the cutting of small l boys’ hair is a large part of) their livelihood and they have to } acknowledge that ho who pays) the barber calls the tune. "We don’t encourage them.” said a Riccarton hairdresser yes- I terday. "Half the time they have , not got their parents' permission } —and we don’t go after that style of haircutting, anyway.” It was a good, clean cut. and did not take much looking after. 1 said a Sockburn barber, who! added: “We did give it to small) boys for a while, but we were {getting into trouble, so now we | make them bupg a note.’’ I Some of me youngsters seem •to get the idea from their older brothers at high school or just .starting work. The barbers do not mind giving them a cut in any style they want—“they know | what they arc about.” Favoured by Athletes ; Quite a number of high school i boys, particularly the swimmers and athletes, like the crew cut. Perhaps it was one of these who got one Riccarton barber into trouble with an irate mother "Eighteen months ago.” he said, “we had a wee chap in the chair and my assistant turned to me and said: ‘He wants a crew cut.' ** ‘A crew cut?’ I asked.’ and he said ‘Yes. he’s got a note.’ Sure enough, that’s what it said.” So the youngster got his crew cut. and half an hour later an angry woman telephoned the barber. “You've sent my boy home with one of those horrible haircuts.” she said. The barber protested that the boy had a note —“l've still got it. if you would like to see it.” The note was certainly not in the mother’s handwriting, and her boy has not been back since. Another barber, in Ferry road, let it be known that there would be no crew cuts without notes from home, and he has had no trouble since. The cutting time, and the period between haircuts, does not seem to vary greatly between the crew cut and the short-back-and-sides standard cut. and many of the barbers favour the short style because it is easy to keep clean and does not take much looking after. Easier To Keep Clean The Medical Officer of Health (Dr. A. Douglas) also came out in favour of the crow cut because of its cleanliness: "The shorter the hair the easier it is to keep clean—it down the parasitic pests.” The origins of the crew cut seem to be obscure, but it may spring from the haircuts worn by German and American servicemen during World War 11. The Americans found it particularly comfortable in the tropics. “I don't worry about Ihe crew cut. it's this bodgie stuff that I don't like.’’ said another hairdresser. He went so far as to sack an apprentice who wanted to wear what he described as a ‘ bodgie cut” in the shop. “The old ’varsity cut, which I have been giving for 25 or 30 (years now, is not greatly different ; from the crew cut; just a little ; longer on the top and a bit ! shorter on the sides.” he said. Finding themselves in an awkward position, most of the barbers decided it would be safer to demand a note than to have irate mothers withdrawing their custom, whatever their own views on the merits of the crew cut as a hair style. Quite a number of mothers and fathers are already cutting their boys’ hair at. home —not because of the risk of running into an unauthorised crew cut at the hands of the professional at the corner, but because of the price. ‘‘At 2s 3d a head every three or four weeks it becomes pretty expensive when you have two or three of them growing up.” said one mother.

She suggested that the suburban barbers—who get most of this trade—should consider reducing their charges on a sliding scale for “batch lots.”