another wig shop gone. it's a real shame. i still remember Mr Gilbert fondly

hairdressers always have great names. this one in leith is a great one

we've been on holiday for a fortnight so we're back to manual updates now (rather than the random selection you've been having for the last ages). i've got tons of holiday photos, but for now, here are some from yesterday when jane and i went to Reading festival for the day.

by the end of our holiday i had quite bushy sideburns and hair, so jane cut me a comedy old person's festival haircut involving a long strip of hair down the centre of my head and my sideburns.

commuting in this weather is not fun, especially as my usual morning train has been cancelled more often than it's actually appeared in the last week meaning i've had up to a 3 hours miserable, hot, crushing commute to meetings. which isn't fun.

but here's a lighter on the train track

and here's a comb on the tube track:

when you buy a hair cut you assume that it will finish at some point. that's not always the case it appears.

it's taken a while, but Mr Gilbert's wig shop is finally going

who wants a haircut like their dad's ? this shop claims to be a specialist in afro caribbean and european hair cuts. i hadn't thought that the European hair was a particular genre of the hair cutting game, but it must be.

i also like how there's some wire hanging in front of the 'uni' of unisex suggesting a very different sort of place.

the laundrette next door is good too. but have you ever seen a laundrette which isn't incredibly photogenic ?

another great Mr Toppers sign

here's a funny old sign. men's haircut £10.

i may be wrong but are men's haircuts impulse buys ?

and those pictures off to the left look like the world's worst men's haircuts. unless you are in an 80s heavy metal band.

here's a funny old sign. it's advertising for models. it's not clear whether the sort of model is like the one in the picture, but let's leave that.

what intrigued me was that they are looking for general models for specific haircuts. what's a specific haircut ?

i realised today that i walk past a number of 'before and after' adverts so i undertook to photo them for you.

here's the first. it's advertising "hi-lites" but neither the before or after pictures look very convincing. this poor chap looks as disappointed after as he did before.

then there's this chap. he looks a bit happier at the end, but the wording is a bit disturbing 'stays on better?'

but my all time favourite has to be this one which i thought was a missing person advert. then i read 'trial' and thought it must be one of those social-injustice posters. but instead it's some sort of advert for something which takes 6 months.
this woman certainly looks a lot sadder after only 6 months which is a shame.

if nail salons are stuck in the 80s, hair salons are often living in the 70s.

just look at these chaps:

quiz of the day - male or female. vote now.

here is an upswaydown self portrait in my new wig

and here is kezzy in the same a bit later

i spotted this at the side of the road when i was doing the marathon. probably part of someone's fancy dress.

sign says it all.

click for big

hairbrush outside paddington station:

click for big

one of the annoying things about being a bloke is that we have to shave everyday. i find this a waste of time, especially in the morning when i'm rushing to get out of the house (i have the same attitude to food in the morning).

however, one of the good things about having 12 straight days off work has been the opportunity to grow some kind of a beard.

whilst i'm happy to exploit the 'tramp chic' style i've cultivated it's been suggested that it's probably a style more appropriate for vacation (and street living) than the world of office employment.

so, my last non-work activity of the holiday was the lopping of the beard (and shaving of the head). jane (my wife and head trimmer) did the honours up top whilst i removed the growth around my mandibles (do ladies have womandibles ?).

here is the before:

and here is the after:

i've adopted my usual happy photo pose which i know you all enjoy.

it's true you know. in this shop they employ a number of people called malcolm to sit next to you when you are having your hair cut.

it's a lovely, but ultimately pointless idea.

a massive clump of hair on the pavement on the way to the station this morning. slightly sinister i thought.

it's always disturbing to find hair in the street. this was no exception.

our old (he's 50) friend Big Eye came round this evening and stood under our tree.

i think it worked well as an environmentally friendly hair piece (peace?).

what's the most bizarre thing you've ever worn on your head in public ? i'll tell you mine if you tell me yours.

i'm always disturbed to see big chunks of hair in the street.

last sunday we went round to our friend sally, tabatha and zac's house for lunch with a number of other people (there was no festive melting skull table decoration this time). i got to play their PS2 all afternoon and got thoroughly confused about who's heads i should be chopping off.

i wasn't allowed to post this pictures last week as we used them in a competition at the party last night. but i can now. zac is looking good in his wig and glasses, whilst sally is looking mighty fine in the famous blue wig.

(click photos for big versions)

and here is another one of sally:

here's a present i got from Brother Edd. It's an amazing hair-growing cat soap.

you take it out of its packet, leave it on a plate and within 12 hours it starts to grow fur, increasing in thickness over a number of days.

here it was when i opened it last night and after 12 hours:

i'll keep you updated as the fur grows. are you interested in where you can buy such an item ? do a google search

you may be wondering who brother edd is. well he's my brother and his name is edd. esther calls him brother edd too which is quite funny (in the same way that kezia calling me dave is quite funny).

here is esther and edd both wearing the blue wig. esther looks very shifty. brother edd looks normal.

i said they'd be no more pictures of me, but here i am yet again. this time i've managed to secure a blue wig from the same charity shop as everything else i've bought this week.

i've provided you with a desk shot (with the now ubiquitous cemetry jacket) and a head shot. i need to develop a proper smile for photos. perhaps i need media training.

the wig is not some novelty item - it's an actual proper wig with a an actual proper inside bit so you can get it to fit properly. Madonna used to take her stuff round to these local charity shops, so maybe it's one of hers.

also note the tidyness of my desk in preparation for an office move in two weeks. more about this another day ...

i bought another wig today for £3. the shop assistant was a smartly dressed lady in a wig. she was a he if you know what i mean. shopping in london is such fun. this is the same shop which sold me my cemetry jacket ...

here is esther demonstrating the wig. she wanted to keep it in her room overnight so she can put it on in the morning when she wakes up.

and he's an even crazier thing. look at the sparkle in esther's eye from the original version of the photo above:

the wig has powers we know not of. probably

here is jane wearing a hair piece.

i wore a wig last night too. kezia woke up in the night and i went to see her. she looked at my head and said "hat". then she felt it and said "hair". then she thought for a moment and said "hair hat".

we should get out more (if you are reading this and would like to invite us out, please do)

study this man's head in detail. i did. for two whole hours as he reclined his chair in to my face on the flight.

here are some 6 month blogaversary hair styles. i went for the retro police mug shot approach. the key thing is to look like i'm enjoying myself.

interesting, one of my entries on the first day of blogging 6 months ago involved wig-wearing (one of the wigs is featured again today to give wig-continuity)

here are some more of my collections which i lovely archived a long time ago

here is mr gilbert locking up his wig shop. see earlier entry for gilbert facts. i was lucky to sneak this photo !

computers are funny things. you come across all sorts of things in their nooks and crannies. these must be from around 1998-ish i would guess.

here are a few photos I discovered:

dave has many nice shirts. jane appreciates them.

jane points at daves old sideburns (now returned after a few years absence)

dave the sad old hippy. why did i ever cut my hair ?

update: jane thinks these photos were taken after esther was born, ie mid 1999 onwards. she can tell this because of the length of her fringe. fantastic !

i was thinking of having a fancy 70s hairstyle. not sure, so i might just mullet over. [boom tish]

click picture for bigger version.

photo taken by tony newell near Keswick, July 2002.

me with long hair and a nice rain coat.

Often I walk down Praed Street. When my tube arrives at Edgware Road tube station I look to see what chances I have of catching my train. If it's more than 10 minutes until the next one then I usually get off at Edgware Road and walk down to Paddington Station. This avoids the crush exiting the tube at Paddington. Both the Circle and the Hammersmith & City Lines are horrible in the rush hour.

One day I noticed that the eery Wig Shop on Praed Street was having a sale. This concerned me as I thought the shop might be shutting down.

The wig shop is run by the famous Mr Gilbert. He's a real local character and I was concerned he might be moving on. So I decided I would enter his shop and see if I could get a photo of the great man in action.

I went in and he was there. He explained it was a genuine sale of ladies wigs (which didn't interest me - I buy mine at great discount from charity shops). I mentioned that he was a local celebrity and asked if he would mind if I took a photo of him in his shop.

Unfortunately he declined to be photoed as he said that he does adverts for certain products and the people who employ him may not like his image being taken.

i respected this, bade my fairwells and excited forethwith. A real shame I though.

However, here is a link to a site which does have a photo of the man and a quick interview: Mr Gilbert

Just in case the link goes away, here is the photo from the Newspad site:

A story from a while back when I had very long hair.

Sometimes I get a feeling I'm going to find a passport photo. One morning I was convinced I would find one if I walked from Paddington Station to Edgware road to cath my tube (instead of just catching it from Paddington). It's good to walk.

On the way, by the bus stop on Praed Street a random man approached me and said:

"I like your hair long mate but it's a shame because it's a disgrace"

Interestingly - further up the road is a wig shop, run by the famous Mr Gilbert (of Paddington Green fame). He himself has long hair. (more on this later). What would the poor man have made of that shop I wonder ...

one man in a wig:

photo by herve

two men in wigs:

photo by herve

one man's real hair:

photo by dave