No woman has ever been allowed in Schorem Haarsnijder en Barbier (Schorem haircutter and barber) in Rotterdam, the shop’s founders Bertus and Leen said without any trace of fear that this might be offensive to the opposite sex. They once even refused entry to a female journalist assigned to write a story about their shop.
Bertus, left, and Leen, the Dutch godfathers of the neo-barber trade.
“We refused all the women,” said Bertus. “Even my mother, my sister and my daughter. Because when a girl is in the shop, the guys don’t know how to relax, and we don’t offer the service to women so why should they come inside? We love them, we love to look at them, we got the magazines with girls in them, but no, a barbershop is just for guys. They have to stay out — it’s a guy thing.”
Though already in their late 30s, everything about their looks says otherwise. Bertus and Leen (that’s how they refer to themselves, like rock stars) are stylishly dressed and with tattoos all over their bodies. Bertus wears a fedora and handlebar moustache, while Leen manages to look incredibly neat despite his massively bushy beard. In just over three years, they have built one of the most well-known barbershops in the world that clients from many countries — those who dig the vintage male-only barber culture — make it their mission to visit.
And with the rise of barbershop culture in Thailand, where more old-school barbers with new twists have been popping up over the past few years, it is no surprise that the Dutch masters made their way to the Big Mango for a workshop at Three Brothers in Bangkok at the end of last month.
Bertus first came across Three Brothers barbershop on Facebook and he immediately fell in love with the Thais’ looks and works. This was around the same time a documentary was being made about Schorem Haarsnijder and the two founders decided to visit the Thai capital with the film crew.
“I love my profession,” said Bertus. “I want to learn everything about barbering in the world. These guys, they are expanding like what we’re doing [in Holland] and these guys do some amazing haircuts. I think they’re really good.”
The workshop had more than 20 participants, and although it should have been an opportunity for young Thai barbers to learn from the more experienced Dutch men, Bertus said he was looking forward to learning techniques from the Bangkok barbers, too.
“The hair here is different so we’re going to learn from Three Brothers today and I think that’s cool,” said Bertus. “We have been doing haircuts for 25 years. It’s not that hard to learn, but it’s hard to master. You’re never there, you learn every day and that’s what attracts me — we do it every day and it’s still hard. You can never just do a haircut, you have to always be focused on it. Doing just a haircut is easy, but giving that special haircut as perfect as possible, that’s the trick. You are always like, ‘What can I do to make the best haircut?’.”
Before this resurgence of barbershops, Bertus said men turned to salons for a good cut, while barbershops had the reputation of “fast and cheap” chops. He says that his team back in Holland and the barbers here are setting a new example.
“They are changing the scene because they put effort into haircuts,” said Bertus. “They do the best they can do and it’s all about how they show the guys that they can look good. So many guys they don’t even know they can look good because they have had this stupid cut for 12 years because their father brought them to their barber.”
When asked what it is about barbershops that make him talk about them as if they are sacred places, Bertus said they have a special atmosphere that’s hard to explain and understand completely if you are not there.
“It is a fun place to be. I think that when you tell a guy anywhere in the world about this shop that’s filled with antiques and no girls are allowed and you get a beer and a perfect haircut, there’s not a guy in the world who’s gonna say, ‘That’s stupid’. People come to the shop because they want to have a good time. We give him a beer, we give him a Playboy, and we give him a haircut and everybody is happy.”
The recent workshop in Three Brothers by Bertus and Leen.
