New Hawick barber hoping to help sort out what’s inside heads as well as on top of them
Sean Robson has opened Teviot and Tweed Barber’s at 1 Buccleuch Street, a unit formerly home to a sweet shop.
The 28-year-old is relatively new to the trade, having only graduated from Edinburgh College a year and a half ago.
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Hide AdSince then, he’d been working at a barber’s shop in Galashiels, and for over a decade before that, he’d worked in the motor trade but quit, in part, due to mental health issues.
Sean believes that for some men combating similar issues a chat with an understanding barber can be a welcome way to address any tensions they are feeling.
He said: “Because of the stigma of mental health, the barber is sometimes the only person that men can talk to.
“You’d be surprised how many men will open up when they are talking to a barber.
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Hide Ad“There is even an initiative supported by Prince William which combats mental health through barbering.”
Sean, of Kelso, is looking forward to the challenge ahead and is unfazed by the fact that Hawick isn’t short of barber’s shops as it is.
He said: “Each shop will have its own clientele.
“When I worked in Gala, there were 10 barbers and there was more than enough work.
“Hawick seems to be a place that is up and coming rapidly, with a lot of investment and there’s only, including myself, five barber’s shops in town.”
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Hide AdSean is already being boosted by the support of three high-profile customers – current Scotland rugby captain Stuart Hogg, from Hawick, and his former international team-mates Ross Ford, from Kelso, and Greig Laidlaw, from Jedburgh.
“I have Ross and Stuart’s shirts that they kindly gave me hung up on the wall,” he said, adding: “I cut Stuart’s hair at his home, but now I have the shop he’ll be coming in here to get it done.”
The shop is offering gents’ haircuts, from classic to newer styles, for customers of any age, plus all types of facial grooming, with cut-throat shaving also on the agenda for the future.
Sean, dad to seven-month-old daughter Zenaya, will initially be working solo.
He added: “I’m really looking forward to hopefully bringing something new to Hawick, somewhere customers can come and get a good haircut and have a chat and chill.”