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The snips of the underground
Date Added: 2009-12-24
I saw this guy in Berlin, dressed up in shorts, cutting hair in the middle of the night under a pink, neon, ‘Barbie-style’ sign – I thought it was the coolest thing ever.” Steph Reynard’s initial encounter with the infamous Charlie Le Mindu marked her first glimpse into the world of the pop-up salon - a DIY, temporary, cultural/fashion phenomenon.
Steph now runs her very own pop-up salon called Parlour Macabre. On Tuesday’s the salon takes residency at the Victoria pub on Grove Road, the trendy hangout of oh-so-cool Shoreditch types. She also takes Parlour Macabre to the pub’s well-known jumble sale event every Sunday, whilst still tending to the tresses of the crème de la crème of London’s hipsters from her warehouse space in Hackney.
“The Peanut Factory, where Parlour Macabre is based, is an amazing artistic warehouse on an industrial estate. I am always busy, fitting in around 2 to 3 haircuts a night. It’s a great atmosphere, people can drink, smoke and relax, and I’ll cut hair late into the night,” she says.
Last year saw the rise of the pop-up shop being rolled out across the UK in various different formats and locations. Prada unveiled their truly awe inspiring pop-up store in the heart of Paris and now, in London, ultra trendy restaurant La Bistrotheque is offering its usual East End diners the chance to experience their second pop-up venture – Flash in London’s Mayfair.
The pop-up trend fuses fashion, DIY culture and music, but also promotes the idea of an underground scene – think 90’s raves held in fields in the middle of the home counties – but in the hair world it's ultra cool and über secret - with all sorts of weird and wonderful hybrids of the same scene-setting idea.
The concept took off when French-born hairdresser Charlie Le Mindu started tending to the tresses of the public at the modular parties in Berlin. Before long he developed his pop-up salon and now works his pop-up shop exclusively at Shoreditch den, Tatty Devine.
“In Berlin nobody was up and about in the day time; they are more nocturnal, so I really didn’t want to cut hair in the day. So at some club nights I would take along my mirror, scissors, shampoo and everything, I knew people had done similar things in the past but where they would only really style people’s hair. I wanted to cut it, blow dry and style it. It was a big success; clients would leave home without their hair done and then party with a new hair cut,” says Charlie enthusiastically.
In the depths of Middlesborough, Martin Fox, a hairdresser and salon owner has also set up his own brand of pop-up salon. Once a month, at a club night called Kaboom, Martin’s Scarlet Moon pop-up salon takes residency, offering fast and funky cuts.
“The Scarlet Moon pop-up is an extension of the (Scarlet Moon) salon. We bring our scissors, clippers and do quick 15 minute haircuts in the dark, in a nightclub, totally free.”
Martin claims that some of his best clipper work has been done this way as the crowd are always ‘edgy’ and although he now has a network of local promoters who are working with him on other ventures, he never forgets the importance of the free promotion and advertising.
“No money changes hands, the pop-up salon is there for me to develop and generate interest – it’s advertising in a clever way.”
It seems that pop-up salons are used in different ways –while some hairdressers are doing it as a media-savvy exercise, to create awareness and promote themselves, others are turning it into a viable stand-alone business.
“It’s getting to the stage where I am so busy I want to go full time.” muses Steph, who started working in a salon in Australia, before moving to London. “I work in a tattoo studio during the day so I could do haircutting in the evening’
Due to the underground nature of Parlour Macabre, Steph doesn’t need to focus heavily on promotion, she makes about £20 for the average cut and shows no sign of slowing down. “My boyfriend and I came up with the name - the only real promotion I do is through word of mouth, Facebook and the flyers for club nights.” She also enjoys her residency at Rebel Bingo, an underground bingo night held in numerous weird and wonderful locations across London. “They did a great promotion for us with the strap line “Get a f**king haircut.”
So what’s next for the underground hairdressing market? The recession has meant that all forms of mobile hairdressing have taken off. Pop-up salons benefit from minimal overheads and, with good initial contacts, can be a great business opportunity. It certainly seems that the pop-up salon is growing in popularity.
The paradox lies in the fact that the more success these pop-up salon have, the more the underground element will have gone. There are, however, always new things to try and Steph certainly has plenty of ideas up her sleeve.
”I really want to get into barbering, says Steph. “And then at some point my boyfriend and I have a great idea to buy a caravan, set up a salon inside it, and travel to different locations like music festivals.”
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