Men's ears emerge from hair again

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33675, 26 October 1974, Page 12

Men's ears emerge from hair again

(By

PAUL WALLACE)

Suddenly ears are back in fashion. The progress of men’s hair first down to their collars and finally on to their shoulders, has suddenly gone into reverse. After five years of flowing hairstyles during which doctors, bank-managers and even prime ministers adopted the shaggy look, men have now decided they want their hair short and neat.

And not surprisingly, hairdressers are delighted. In New York, where the number of hairdressing saloons had slumped from 6000 to 4000 in the last five years, the scissors are busily snipping again. “We have definitely turned the corner and are starting on the road back,” said a spokesman for the Barbers’ Union, delighted by the procession of longhaired customers who sheepishly confess they haven’t sat in a barber’s chair for years. Shaven styles Neil Rutherford, who runs a trendy barbershop in London’s West End, frequented by show-business personalities, said: “Hair has been long for years and it was inevitable that one day people would get tired of it and try something else. “The ugly shaven styles

will never come back, but a great number of clients who have had long hair for years are suddenly asking for it to be cut shorter. “I don’t really know why it is. One theory is that now older people have longer hair, youngsters think the battle had been won and are losing interest in long styles.” Another reason may be that pop stars are going in for shorter hair: John Lennon now has a style which wouldn’t disgrace the man from the insurance company. The rock star Marc Bolan has chopped off his famous wild frizzle of shoulder-length curls. “I find long hair very boring,” he says. Personal experience Topol, the Israeli actor, was seen lunching in a London club sporting a haircut which would not look out of place on an Aidershot parade ground. The new short-back-and-sides look is not cheap, “My clients don’t want us to go to any less trouble than with the long styles,” said Michael Halliday, managing director of a hairdressing chain. “In fact the new, chunkier styles take even more skill to do properly.” I speak from personal experience. The other day I slid nervously into a barber’s chair — the first time for two years — and told the hairdresser: “I’d like to see my ears again, please. . .” I said I fancied a “Great Gatsby” style and the cutting began. It proceeded

with painstaking care, almost hair by hair, and took more than 40 minutes, after finst washing and partially drying my hair. Then there was a blowdry and a few last adjustments before the mirror was swung towards me; and a clean-cut face I hadn’t seen for five years stared out. The cost, with extras: just over £4. The effect on my wife and family: startling to say the least. My youngest daughter wasn’t even sure who I was. My own reaction: I like it how I’ve got used to it. Certainly its easier to manage. The trend is catching on in sport, too. A spokesman for the Professional Footballers’ Association said: “Very few players have really long hair nowadays. “Clubs don’t like it and it’s also distracting to the footballer. In many cases clubs decide on a maximum length, and stipulate that hair doesn’t flop over the player’s face.” Busy scissors Naturally, hairdressers can’t wait to get thir scissors and clippers busy again. An official of the British Hairdressing Federation, representing more than 90 per cent of the nation’s barbers, said: “Obviously we welcome any trend towards neat, well-kept hair. “We are not against long styles on principle so long as they are shaped properly and well-groomed. A man, however long his hair, should visit a stylist at least once a month.”