"Something for the weekend?"

factormax

factormax

Joined
Monday July 20, 2009
Are any of you gents old enough to have ever been asked by a barber if you "need something for the weekend, Sir?", while he was brushing you down after a haircut?

Talking to a group of younger men on the subject of haircuts recently, not one of them knew where the expression originated! Though they had heard a song with that title, and knew there was a TV programme with that name on a Sunday!
 
Less than five years ago there was a Greek barber working in east finchley, north London who would ask the questions.

Aftershave?
Something for your hair, brylcream? Gel?
Something for the weekend?

Sadly he got pushed out of his shop by rent increases. Pity, he did a great no nonsense hair cut.
 
No-one ever aksed me. :-(

When I did used to go to an old fashioned barbers, (maybe 15-20 years ago) I don't think he did any of that fancy "retail" stuff, he just cut hair and did a nice line in small talk about holidays and what football team you liked. There was no option to buy extras. No soap, no combs, no aftershave, no french ticklers, nowt. His price list was about 3 lines long: Wash, cut and blowdry, flat top, and clipper cut.

I knew the origin of the phrase but I've never seen it offered.
 
I started growing too tall for my hair at just the wrong time. By the time I knew what "something for the weekend" meant, I was already using clippers on what was left of my barnet at home.
 
Most barber , 'barbers', here only do hair with no side retail trade. Reason being that there's no tax on haircuts but there is on hair related sales. So to avoid unannounced sale tax audits they have nothing for sale (other than hair cuts).
Do remember when some had the 'book' in the back room.
 
I was never asked but the barbers that I used to go to whilst at secondary school used to ask this of the older customers.
 
quote='Canuck' pid='174633' dateline='1331842268']
Johnus said:
Do remember when some had the 'book' in the back room.
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What was this book? Bookie stuff, unlicenced betting? Or dirty books?


A private massage maybe :icon_wink:.


I was asked this question but it was 25 years ago when i was about 21, i got bored with haircuts at about 33 ish and just bought clippers and mowed it all to wood.
 
joe mcclaine said:
It was a nice way of asking if you were all set for condoms.
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I think it's true to say that, in those days, contraceptives were something that men dealt with - not like today, when ladies can (and do) buy them without embarrassment. Even having said that, the sale by the barber to the male client was very discrete - "something for the weekend, Sir" tended to be muttered quietly, almost as an afterthought. Actually, sex itself was something that went on behind closed doors, so to speak. It wasn't everywhere you looked, like it is today.
 
factormax said:
Are any of you gents old enough to have ever been asked by a barber if you "need something for the weekend, Sir?", while he was brushing you down after a haircut?
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Yes, as a youngster I used to go with my grandfather once a month or so to a barbers shop down Rippon Street in Preston (its still there). There was always a little display stand of noddys in front of the oldest of the three barbers who worked there. It was one of those places where old blokes used to sit round, natter and listen to sport on Radio 2. Actually its still there (though its moved up the street one door).

One particular saturday I got the oldest barber who cut my hair and then once finished and did that thing with the mirror said in a very loud voice "Anything for the weekend young sir?" to whit I replied "No, Im fine thanks" with thoughts of an unread Whizzer and Chips comic and milky way bar waiting for me back at grandfather Teds house....

Cue lots of laughter from the old blokes sat round. It was years before I understood why.
 
Like Vinnie, my Barber days ended when i also grew a little tall for my hair, I now have my own personal hair dresser his name is Wahl, you just plug him in and away he goes, but I did use a gentlemans barber for most my life until they both passed away, two very witty and charming Jewish gentlemen, and thier apprentice stuart, who never kept the shop going after they retired, the interior had the same hydraulic enamel barber chairs from the 1930s, all the deco was the same up until the the early 1990s, with edlery men having their ears singed with a lit flame. they would always strop and shave your neck and around your ears with a straight razor, i still see their old apprentice Stuart he does personal house calls for some of the die hard old Barber fans. Something for the weekend, back in the seventies and the begining of the eighties HIV wasn't a issue, but today, if i was a youngster i wouldn't leave the house without them.

Jamie.
 
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