'UK's busiest barber' helping with haircuts during lockdown

1 May 2020, 08:46

By EJ Ward

Two entrepreneurs have invented a service to protect those in lockdown from the threat of a "DIY bowl cut" and it is raising money for the NHS.

Dan Silvertown, 27, and Jeroen Sibia, 31, came up with the idea. The two entrepreneurs have previously co-founded an online recruitment company after working in the city as bankers.

The company says barbers normally do around 350 million hair cuts a year in the UK, but with the country in lockdown due to coronavirus and barbers shops and hair saloons forced to close the only option for those with unruly mops is a home hair cut.

Speaking of the motivation behind the business they said: "With the prospect of a lockdown extension looming and Zoom video becoming the new normal, we were staring down the barrel of a DIY haircut."

The Lockdown Haircut service is simple professional barbers talk customers through cutting their own hair from home on a video call.

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The service is simple, customers can book a video appointment with a professional barber, and all they need is a set of electric clippers, comb, and laptop with webcam.

Co-founder Jeroen said: “We hold two records at the moment: we are the UK’s first online barber and strangely enough, the UK’s busiest barber - by hair and volume! We’re proud of both records, we’re glad to have the first one but hope we can lose the second as that would mean the lockdown is over. I guess that means we’re sort of rooting for our own business to become obsolete!”

The pair said they had the idea on a Tuesday afternoon and loved the idea so much they "basically worked on it non-stop until Thursday morning."

They said the reception has been amazing,"it shows real community spirit that so far every barber we’re working with has offered to donate their wages to the NHS,"

A 20 minute appointment costs £15 with the money split between the barber and the NHS.