Haircuts are a bit like bespoke fits (stick with me on this one). Similar to a bespoke swimsuit, haircut could be very private and particular person. Similar to a bespoke swimsuit, it will depend on communication and creating a relationship. And identical to a bespoke swimsuit, it makes the wearer look good with out anybody essentially with the ability to say why, or a minimum of how. 

I used to be having a dialog with Lucas not too long ago about his hairdresser Tom Bushnell (above, prime) and these parallels stored arising. I believed it was an attention-grabbing subject, as a result of males I do know wrestle with it simply as a lot as they do with commissioning a swimsuit. 

After all I do know nothing about hair. I began going bald at 19, and it was reduce brief quickly after. However Lucas is blessed with flowing locks, a veritable mane. And it didn’t at all times look this fashion; he didn’t at all times like his hair or know what to do about it. 

“For some time I went to traditional locations like Trumper’s, as a result of they’ve the historical past and custom. However they weren’t actually all for any of my views or what I wished. It wasn’t nice, but it surely took me a very long time to understand it,” he informed me. 

“Then for some time I went to native Turkish barbers. They do a job, however frankly I used to be at all times just a little scared what I used to be going to come back out with. My angle again then (this was my late twenties) was mainly to get a brief again and sides and let it develop out for so long as attainable – get worth for cash.”

Finally, about 5 years in the past, Lucas began going to Tom based mostly off the advice of some menswear associates. “Initially I used to be doing the identical factor, simply having it brief, however Tom steadily drew out of me what I wished to seem like, sort of what my references had been.”

The reference Lucas brings up most is Robert Redford, along with his lengthy blond locks, wispy over the ears. However whereas that’s correct to an extent – you may see from the photographs that Lucas’s hair is now longer than it was – the haircut can also be completely different. Lucas doesn’t have a fringe for instance, and there’s extra weight on the again. 

That is the place comparisons with a tailor are additionally related. As a result of bespoke clients usually herald photos of fits they like, so as to exhibit a mode. They’re not going to seem like the particular person within the image – however the tailor’s talent is knowing from these photos what the client desires, after which making a model of it that works for them. 

And, one which fits not simply their physique however their fashion too. Go into any Savile Row tailor they usually’ll reduce you a navy swimsuit that flatters you – they’ll modify lapels, size, buttoning level, drape and pitch to perfection. However is a pointy, structured swimsuit actually what you need? Is it what you’ll get most use out of?

“That is an space I actually get pleasure from – understanding somebody’s character and what expresses it,” Tom informed me once we met. “I’m a giant fan of artwork, structure, trend, so I like speaking to shoppers about what they like as a method into that dialogue.”

As with tailors, Tom finds quite a lot of first-time clients are available with photos: “They received’t have the vocabulary to speak about what they need, in order that they’ll convey photographs. However they’re at all times apologetic about it, barely embarrassed, saying one thing alongside the traces of ‘I do know you may’t really make me seem like him, however…’ They shouldn’t be embarrassed, it’s an excellent place to start out.”

Lucas is a reasonably laidback particular person, and one challenge he had along with his hair was that he wasn’t coming again after the advisable six weeks; it was extra like 10. “When it received lengthy sufficient on prime it might type of collapse and lie actually flat,” he says. “Tom and I talked about it and we began reducing it just a little shorter on prime, so it by no means fairly received to that time.”

I do know I’m searching for these connections now, however that is simply the sort of dialog tailor has about way of life. He would possibly suggest stronger cloths, for instance, since you put on your garments onerous and barely get round to urgent them. “It’s all related,” Tom says. “A man within the Metropolis will often err in the direction of a cleaner and neater coiffure; a man with younger youngsters received’t be capable to spend a lot time with merchandise, and so forth.”

Tom’s salon is a pleasant area, on the fourth ground of an Artwork Deco constructing in Bloomsbury. There’s a really relaxed vibe – someplace you really wouldn’t thoughts sitting for quarter of an hour and having a cup of tea. 

He works on trend shoots for manufacturers in addition to personal shoppers, so there’s extra of an artwork and design angle than most hairdressers. There’s additionally extra of a selected menswear angle than I realised – shoppers embody Thom Sweeney, Anglo-Italian, LEJ and P Johnson. 

Nonetheless, it appears like quite a lot of these factors apply to working with any hairdresser, and there are many parallels with tailoring. I will be to listen to what readers have discovered over time, and what parallels they see.