Could you get your hair cut at Binns in South Shields?

There were some places where men feared to tread '“ one of which was a ladies' hairdressers.
Hairdressing in 1976.Hairdressing in 1976.
Hairdressing in 1976.

Which is probably why none of my male colleagues were able to answer the question put to me by a curious Gazette reader recently when she asked: “Was there a hairdressers salon in the old Binns store in South Shields?”

Now I know a lot of you used to shop at this once-popular department store in town, so please get in touch if you know whether this was true or not.

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Back in the day, before the advent of uni-sex hair salons, I seem to remember men going to barbers and women to hairdressers.

Hairdressers were places where women went to have their locks coiffured and cut; where they spent hours on end being primped and preened, and even longer under huge, space ship-like dryers.

On the occasions when, as a small boy, I was dragged to the hairdressers where my mam had an appointment, I learned that they were places of continuous chatter and background radio music and DJ patter (probably Jimmy Young in those days). Piles of glossy magazines cluttered short-legged tables, along with half-drank cups of tea and coffee.

They were bustling, hot, homely spaces, more social clubs than workplaces.

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But above all, they were places that smelled of strange chemicals; that produced that most sought-after hair affair – the perm.

Phew what a stink they produced, but having that must-have curly look, more than made up for the nasty niff.

That was then, and times, of course, have changed, and nowadays there isn’t the same distinction between a hairdresser and a barber.

Having said that, though, a colleague of mine was quick to point that in certain places, hairdressing habits seem to have remained rooted in the past.

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“There are women who go to the hairdressers every week, what I would call the ‘blue rinse brigade’,” she said.

“They probably don’t need a hair cut but they go anyway, for a bit of a chat and maybe a bit of cake.”

What do you think? Is getting your hair cut a pain or a pleasure? And how has it changed over the years? Please get in touch.