You’re not just getting a haircut, you’re getting free therapy as well.
Think being a general practitioner is tough on your mental health?
It could be worse. You could be a barber.
Who knew these quintessentially chatty chappies and chappettes also got the blues?
We all should now, thanks to 19 May being designated National Barber Mental Health Awareness Day. (Spookily, yesterday was also World Family Doctor Day. Coincidence? You be the judge.)
Barbers, we learn via a survey of hairdressing customers, perform a high-energy, creative job which exposes them to many people throughout the day, which can foster an environment where mental health problems are bubbling away, but are being hidden behind an upbeat exterior.
The survey, run by an app called Booksy, also found that 43% of hair-dressing professionals felt like their client’s unofficial therapist all of the time, and 44% had a hard time separating themselves from work mentally even when they aren’t behind the chair.
And what do our tonsorial twiddlers discuss with their customers? Well, mental health and physical health are right up there (36% and 48% respectively), but it is work (65%), covid and family (both 67%) which are the top topics.
More than half of customers report feeling “more optimistic” after a trip to the barber and more than a third feel a greater sense of community and feel more confident in social situations. How much of that is actually down to no longer looking like one of the characters in the bar scene from Star Wars we may never know.
Hairdressers also have a slight edge on bartenders and personal trainers when it comes to trust. People are more likely to act on their snipper’s advice (37%) than the guy pouring them booze (29%) or making them sweat it off (34%).
Which is a problem if this is your hairdresser:
A hairdresser on the Gold Coast has BANNED vaccinated patrons from entering her store, citing concerns the COVID vaccine will impact the fertility of customers. #9News pic.twitter.com/Ho3swvWIqJ
— 9News Australia (@9NewsAUS) May 19, 2021
If you see something stupid, don’t just tell your hairdresser about it. Email us at mailto:felicity@medicalrepublic.com.au.
