Mutton Dressed as Lad
The first cut is the chic-est
For men, a haircut can be a defining stylistic statement. True, as we age and many of us become folically challenged, the options decrease, as does the suitability of a 10in-high Mohican. But in the flush of youth the male barnet is one of the few ways in which a bloke can express his individuality.
When I was a kid, hair was a way of declaring which style tribe you belonged to. Punks had anarchist spikes; mods, neat little fringes; New Romantics, extravagant baroque constructions; skinheads, brutal crops; teddy boys, Elvis quiffs; and rockabillies, exaggerated flat tops.
Last week I took my three boys for a crop to a salon called Lockonego in Kings Road, Central London . It was time, I reckoned, for the eldest, Nick, 13, to have something a little more classy than the perfunctory helmet-head he receives at the local barber. And, in the interests of avoiding charges from his siblings of preferential treatment, the outing turned into a major expedition.
Lockonego had been recommended by a friend as a place that would make three scruffy herberts feel at ease, not to mention their bleary-eyed father. Unponcey was a priority. That it is situated at the World's End end of
Kings Road also meant that I would have the opportunity to indulge in some “when I was a lad” nostalgia. For this had been my teenage stomping-ground during my first forays into buying clothes and determining my personal fashion sense.
It's changed a bit. Johnsons, the punk/new wave store where I proudly bought my first leather jacket (complete with skull-and-crossbone silver buttons), is now a dry cleaners, bizarrely still called Johnsons. And American Classics, which, along with Flip a little farther down the road, was a cornucopia of great vintage US stuff, is no longer there.
Lockonego, now into its fourth year, is a relative newcomer. Run by a friendly (and decidedly unponcey) hairdresser called Jonathan Long, one of two founders - along with a stylist, Ben Cooke - it was welcoming and relaxed, with nice big chairs, a chandelier, art from the gallery round the corner and a clientele of men and women.
Jonathan - cropped hair, black jeans, white Converse All Star trainers, skinny grey cardigan over a white T-shirt - began by asking the boys what they wanted. To my surprise, they had an opinion. The little one asked for an indie scamp sticky-up look (his favourite band is the Arctic Monkeys) and the middle one a more shaggy Oasis style. Nick, the eldest, was the most diffident, but Jonathan eventually suggested a way of reducing his helmet in line with the trend for preppy, short round the sides and back with a bit of a messy parted nest on top.
“People ask what the new trend is,” Jonathan explained, “and I always say it's what suits you.” So, unlike in my day, when your hair was a badge of musical and fashion preferences, today anything goes. He says that his clients do their research and take ideas from magazines. This whole area of grooming, he says, has been a well-kept secret of women. Now that's changing. Downstairs he does facials, manicures and pedicures for men.
“It's not that men are more vain, it's just that they are better informed,” says Jonathan. Where haircuts are concerned, the over-forties ask for “a José [Mourinho] or a George Clooney”, while the younger ones look to Westlife, Take That and David Beckham.
In fact, the guys at Lockonego do Westlife's hair, were responsible for shaving Beckham's head and created his wife's celebrated asymmetrical “pob” (Posh's bob).
As we left, my kids looking like some nascent boy band, I reflected on just how far we have come since the term “footballer's haircut” was strictly pejorative.