In the run-up to National Men’s Grooming Day on Tuesday, Ruth Addicott talks to award-winning barber Chris Moon about how the cut-throat razor is making a comeback in the North-East

WITH a family history of barber shops dating back to 1938, it was only natural Chris Moon would end up being crowned the North-East’s Best Wet Shaving Barber.

Like his granddad, Chris, who owns Kutz Barbers in North Shields, has perfected the art of the traditional wet shave and is part of a new generation of barbers experiencing a huge trend in male grooming.

Chris’s grandparents started the business in 1938, his granddad ran a barbers called Hotspur Hairdressing under the Hotspur Ballroom in Whitley Bay, while his grandmother ran a shop for ladies.

“My dad did an apprenticeship with my grandfather and my mum did an apprenticeship with my grandma – that’s how they met,” he says.

His father took over the business in the early Eighties and Chris remembers sweeping the floor at the age of ten.

“My brother and I would go down the shop every weekend,” he says. “We used to ride down on our bikes, get up to a bit of mischief and sit and read comics and the staff would buy us a can of pop.”

By 2003, they had two more shops, one in North Shields. which Chris runs. and another in Whitley Bay, run by his brother Steven.

Despite being a barber himself, Chris’s father tried to encourage his sons to pursue a different career and Chris ended up going to college to study IT, but he missed the banter. He got a job in a bar in Newcastle and it wasn’t until 2002 when his mother talked him into going back into the business that he became his father’s apprentice and started learning the trade. “I fell in love with the job and pushed myself to become the best I could be,” he says.

Losing his mum from a sudden brain haemorrhage in 2004, made him even more determined, which is how he ended up making it to the final round of Britain’s Best Wet Shave Barber in May. The event, run by the British Barbers’ Association and male grooming brand, Bluebeards Revenge, saw eight regional winners fight it out in a “‘speed-shaving” tournament in a boxing ring. Chris was averaging 4.5 minutes, but was pipped to the post. He normally likes to take his time and spends around 40 minutes doing a wet shave.

“You’ve got to make sure you take plenty of time and be super gentle; the gentler you are, the more hair you cut,” he says. “The blade does the work. A lot of people push down on the skin and that’s where they get cuts from.”

Chris has come a long way since his first attempt on a customer. “It was horrendous, I didn’t know what I was doing,” he says. “My dad was trying to be supportive, but I didn’t have the patience. I was shouting at him more than he was shouting at me.

The customer looked as though he had hair glued onto his face. My dad had to take over in the end.”

Chris was so demoralised, he only took it up again six years ago. With the recent trend for beards, he is currently doing 50 per cent beard trims and 50 per cent wet shaves.

“In the Eighties and Nineties, the fad was to go to a ladies’ hairdresser because the styles were perms and things, but with the parting and quiff and a lot of the 1950s look going on, guys are realising the only way to get that style is by going to the barber,” he says.

He says men are no longer just looking for a haircut, but the whole package. “They want their eyebrows trimmed, they want a shave, they want to look great for going out on a weekend and if you can get someone else to do that and do it well, it’s much better than doing it yourself,” he says.

Chris has one client who comes in every three weeks and spends £30 on a facial, the full wet shave experience and a cut.

Other customers go in once a month and spend £18 on a haircut and shave. “Some guys like to do it themselves, but others like to be pampered,” he says.

Like a lot of barbers, Chris has just as many products on his bathroom shelf as his wife. He uses shampoo, conditioner, facial scrub, moisturiser and beard oil every day.

The growth in the male grooming market has had an impact throughout the North-East with salons such as Be Premiere in Darlington increasing its focus on the men’s market and opening an additional salon at Psyche in Middlesbrough.

The trend has also spread to rural areas such as Teesdale.

Ross Mitchell, who opened The Gentleman’s Club in Barnard Castle, in March says: “One of the reasons we came here was because there was nowhere like this in the Teesdale area.”

The Gentleman’s Club is kitted out to make customers feel relaxed and has a waiting room with a Chesterfield sofa, beers, books, magazines and a dart board. Ross has clients of all ages, most of whom spend between £12 to £15.

“I think gents are taking a lot more pride in their appearance,” he says. “Hair is a lot more formal now – very classic, 1920s style. There has been a massive trend for quiffs, but a few of my clients are looking to get away from that now and are wanting a more messy kind of look.”

But while the Man Bun (or “Mun”), as seen on Oscar winning actor Jared Leto and Made in Chelsea’s Oliver Proudlock, is tipped to be the style of 2014, it has yet to hit the streets of Barnard Castle. As for the best products on the market, Ross recommends the range by American Crew, particularly American Crew Fiber – a highhold, low-shine matt paste which moulds and adds fullness and texture to hair.

For gents still intent on rocking the Fifties quiff, Chris says the secret is a good quality wax or pomme and a generous squirt of hairspray over the top.

  • The Gentleman’s Club, 26 Newgate, Barnard Castle, DL12 8NG; (07539-517895); E: rossmitchell23@btinternet.com; facebook.comthegentlemansclubbarbers
  • KUTZ, 122 Park View (0191-2534-743) and 239 Whitley Road, Whitley Bay (0191-2537-171); 8 West Percy Street, North Shields, NE29 0AG, (0191- 2595-017)