#Dapper barber free

#Dapper barber free

In his free time or when his shift is done, he heads out on his bike to find customers, grooming between five and 30 people a day. every day, puts together an outfit and goes down to the coffee shop near his house before beginning his day at the salon. “On top of all of that, he reminds us of the barbers of the old days.” When I have some time, I call him and he comes immediately, so I never have to leave work to go to the barber,” he said. “I’m so happy he’s here,” says Abo Saeed, one of his favourite curbside customers. He is slender, stylishly dressed, and has a sharp wit. The handsome hairdresser has become something of a celebrity in southern Beirut.

He taught me the trade and introduced people to me.” But I decided to leave school altogether to work with him. “He told me to come to the salon after school if I like this job.

I’d come back from school, drop off my backpack, and go to his shop,” Mr. “I used to love watching the barber near my parent’s house. Some stop him for a haircut, but others hail him down to catch up or introduce themselves. Jahjah works in both, spending most of his day in a barbershop before hitting the tarmac on his bike. Mobile barbers were once ubiquitous in Beirut, but regular salons have since become more popular. If I ever have the chance to open a barbershop, it’ll be a vintage one,” he said. “People like this, and I love everything old. His real name is Mohammad Khaled Jahjah, but he prefers the name Abo Tawila - “the Tall One” in Arabic. “It’s a beautiful idea because it’s a really old one,” says the dapper 18-year-old as he makes his way through the buzzing district of Burj al-Barajneh. A rare sight in modern-day Lebanon, the young barber-on-a-bike is looking for his next customer.Įverything he needs for a trim on the pavement is in a handmade trunk attached to the back of his pushbike: scissors, combs, electric razors and brushes. Dressed in an old straw hat and navy suspenders, Abo Tawila pedals around a southern district of Beirut.