Down to the Nitty Gritty

I so needed a haircut. Hairdresser Leanne snipped, clipped, buzzed and nudged as I told her that my last haircut was exactly two months earlier in Auckland, New Zealand. It was on the day of our flight home and I was attracted into the shop by a sign I’d seen the night before, offering 50% discount, just as the shop was closing.

It turned out the discount applied to haircuts done by students from the hairdressing school, and none were in at opening time next day, so I had to pay full fare. Never mind. The barber had enormous implants in his stretched ear lobes and was heavily tattooed, including his face, but he was congenial and gave me an excellent cut.

Leanne is a mobile hairdresser. She told me she met her husband when she was training. He volunteered to get a free haircut and was her subject in an exam. It’s amazing where a cheap haircut can lead.

They married and moved to Gembrook 30 odd years ago and Leanne worked at Lillian Granieri’s Gembrook Hair Centre, which was located in Redwood Road and also in Emerald in the main street, I think in the old telephone exchange. Lib was a customer. In those days Lib cut my hair to save a few dollars but I couldn't return the favour.

After Lib tired of cutting my hair I became itinerant and grabbed a haircut anywhere when I had a little time, or when the hot itchy feeling of a bushy head of hair in warm weather drove me to urgency.

These days I ring Leanne whose two girls went through school with our boys. She’s an avid Richmond fan so we talk footy too. She isn’t always available when I need her so I still pop into barber shops and hairdressers where I might be when the urge to be refreshed and invigourated by a clipping takes hold.

It’s one of life’s little pleasures.

Footnote - I’m told there was a men’s barber shop and billiard room in Gembrook in the 1930’s, where the supermarket is now.