Up-to-date Practices in Overseas Saloons

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 90, 10 January 1935, Page 11

Up-to-date Practices in Overseas Saloons

Sir, —May I be allowed to express the view that the correspondence on barbers’ premises and the way they conduct them has been of distinct service to the community, if it only awakens men to the realisation that the saloons in other parts of the world are infinitely superior to what we are accustomed to in Wellington. I cannot refrain from remembering the exquisitely-appointed saloons in New York, with their chromium steel and white enamel fittings; the attendants always in speckless white, a separate towel (small) for each client, an ample pad of cotton wool for the neck, and a proper steriliser for the tools of trade. I have seen the sterilising cabinets in some Wellington barbers’ shops, which never sterilise. I have been wiped down with a towel which has done a similar office for others (many times over, I fear), and have seen the lather-daubed papers heaped high in a common box. That may have sufficed 20 years ago, but barbers, like other people, should spend a little time on making improvements on the lines suggested by American trade papers. 1 wonder how often, for instance, are the electric hair-cutters sterilised. I have never seen this done. I often wonder if they are ever washed from the time they are first put in action until they are finally dispensed with. They may be given a drop of oil occasionally, but a really good wash in boiling water (with soda) would cleanse such implements thoroughly. I have never seen barbers sterilise their scissors or razors, though experts in hygiene will tell them that such treatment is very necessary. And how many of them use the removable paper pad on the head rest? Wellington barbers should not get indignant or saucy over criticism; they should seek to learn how far they are behind the rest of the world.—l am, etc., HYGIENE.