Sandy Hobbs | Letters to Ambrose Merton # 15, 1998

Following up a hunch that puns are quite common in the names of hairdressing establishments, I consulted my local, Glasgow North Yellow Pages. A partial listing of the punning names I found follows:

AHEAD
CHOP N’CHAMGE
THE CLIP JOINT
CURL UP AND DYE
CUT AND DRIED
CUT AND RUN
CUTTING CLUB
THE CUTTING EDGE
HAIR PORT
HAIRCRAFT
HAIRITHMICS
HAIROBICS
HAIRRAZERS
HAIRWAYZ
HEAD FIRST
HEADHUNTERS
HEADLINES
HEADMASTERS
HEADQUARTERS
HEADSTART
IN TRIM
PERFECT ENDS
POWECUT
ROOTS
THE SHEARING SHED
STREAKS AHEAD
TOP NOTCH
TRESSPAZ
WAVES AHEAD

Another hunch I had was that puns are a relatively recent element in such names. Consulting two Scottish Post Office Directories which were accessible, Aberdeen 1951-1952 and Dundee 1958-1959. I found 85 and 111 hairdressing entries respectively. The overwhelming majority included a surname. This could be part of a straightforward statement of the people who were presumably the proprietors, as with my local barbers in Aberdeen:

SIMPSON, J. & K.

Some , more formally, included a title or a business status, e.g.

ALLAN, MRS ANNIE
MARLOW (ABERDEEN) LTD.

A small number seemed intent on creating an impression of superior style, e.g.

BEATTIE MAISON
BULTLER’S HAIRDRESSING SALOONS

In both directories, a very small number dispensed with a surnames:

BEATRICE, CECILE, EVE, FREDERICKE and MARYLEA in Dundee,
ALYSE, JON and MARGARET in Aberdeen.

Only two entries, both in Aberdeen, failed to include personal names:

PERMS, LTD.
SUN RAY LADIES’ AND GENTS’ HAIRDRESSING SALON

Thus not only were there no puns in these names from the 1950s, the overwhelming tendency was to use personal names. Dropping the surnames was presumably a rare and “modern” idea. Although there are entries in the 1990s Glasgow Yellow Pages which are personal names, there is a strong presence of non-personal ones, such as:

A BEAUTIFUL CUT
ART OF HAIR
CHEVEUX
SISSORHAND

The rise of puns has to be seen in this context. This casual, initial look at the field raises many questions which could be further explored. When, between the fifties and the nineties, did these changes of style take place Are there regional differences? To what extent do the names reflect the tastes of people running small businesses? To what extent is their taste influenced by larger scale, more professional, marketing practices? Finally, it is my impression that puns are more characteristic of hairdressing than of other businesses. Is that correct?

CURL UP AND DYE!

Brian McConnell
Letters to Ambrose Merton 16, 1998

Sandy Hobbs’s collection of punning hairdresser’s names (LTAM 15) rang a distant bell in my memory. The Londoner’s Almanack by Russell Ash (Century, 1985, page 85) includes a list. He says. “Although most London hairdressers are called something like “Maison Roger’, ‘Andre’ or ‘Snippers’, many have names that are clever puns on the services they offer. Here are forty of them.”

ALIAS QUIFF AND COMBS
ALI BARBER
BEYOND THE FRINGE
BLOW INN
BUZZ BEES
CURL UP AND DYE
CUT ABOVE
CUT LOOSE
DEB ‘N HAIR
DO YER NUT
FRING BENEFITS
HAIR AND NOW
HAIRAZORS
HAIR TODAY
HAIR WE ARE
HAIR WE GO
HAIR LOOM
HAIR PORT
HAIRS AND GRACES
HATS OFF
HAZEL NUTS
HEAD FIRST
HEADLINES
HADMASTERS
HEADWAY
HEAD START
HEADS WE DO
HEAT WAVE
LUNATIC FRINGE
MANE ATTRACTION
NEW BARNET*
NEW WAVE
SHEAR PLEASURE
SHYLOCKS
STREAKS AHEAD
SUN ‘N HAIR
UPPERCUTS
WAVELENGTH

In cockney rhyming slang, Barnet Fair is Hair.

I am tempted to extend the collection to other trades, but let me just confine myself (for now) to two favourites. The former antique shop in London Road, Forest Hill, London SE 13, was truthfully named Junk and Disorderly. And still, I believe, in the backstreets of Brighton, Sussex, is a shop under the glamorous name of Twentieth Century Frocks.