Dr Follicles Barber Shop

The place was dirty and my barber was poor company. On top of that, they charged me $ 35 for a basic cut instead of the price listed. When I asked if the price was right, I was told «sorry, the price has gone up.» Solid haircut, but I won’t be going back.

Get your hair cut and have a beer at the same time, all for under $ 30. That’s a good deal.
This edgy hairdresser in Fitzroy has been around a while, and they have a sister shop in Richmond offering a similar service.
I used ot get my hair cut here a few years ago, when I worked nearby, and only stopped going to them due to the distance and inconvenience of not being able to get a crop at lunch time.
I’ve only ever seen male patrons. From a recent trip here with a visiting friend, if you like a hipster-​esque hair do, definately give them a visit.

They cut your hair, offer you a beer, and send you on your way.
Most blokes won’t require any more than that. For the chaps that want to rock more needy (time consuming) hairstyles you’ve probably got a barber anyway.
Minimal small chat. Good location. Will be back.
Note: Read Sam T.‘s review. for this business. Classic stuff…

I have been trying a few different barbers this year and this is probably the last one i will try (because its december and i wont need another hairy till next year: p)
but i really think i have found a good barber this time — by chance actually.
Good solid setup at this shop. great vibe, décor and service. They even give you beer or cider of your choice — wait, everyone is doing that now though! At least here they had about ⁴⁄₅ different beverages to choose from — impressive.
The price was also banging — about $ 28.50 for my classic short sides and back with a pomp on top! + i had 2 drinks! Whattt??? Great!
BUT there is still something strange with a hipster clad female working at a barber store — who know’s maybe its a changing of the guard with this hypsterpocalypse! — but i just cant get use to a female barber, who barely says a word to you and doesn’t take her time getting my lines straight!!!
They can cut hair well enough, but them lines have to be straight girl! And no frays either. Barber haircuts are all about surgeon precision — and that was sorely lacking for a place that calls itself Dr Follicles! Nonetheless, ill come back if i need a hair cut and am in the area!

Why am I, a girl, checking into a men’s barber shop I hear you read… Because I have two wee men, aged 9 & 7, who don’t let anyone but the Dr Follicles hipsters cut their hair!
Though they seldom get the same hairdresser (& though the smiles are often in short supply) we always get a decent cut & the promise of a beer on their 18^th birthday!
It’s a yes from Mr9 & Mr7!

Unique haircut experience! For men and lovers of beer and loud rock music…

This place rocks. Personally, I go for the no.4 and the free beer if I’m not working.

I’d like to share a story with you guys.
Once, in my youthful travels abroad, I found myself in Bangkok, in need of a haircut. Those of you whom have sojourned to Siam will probably know that the weather is quite often «shit» and «hot», so I felt the need to shed my lords of dogtown mane to cool the fuck down.
I was perspiring on the balcony of the seedy hostel that was my domicile at the time, when I noticed across the road a small barber shop– really just a tiled hole in a wall with a barber seat attended by a guy who could have passed for the thai rick james. I carefully peeled myself from the pleather lounge I was melting into and dragged myself down the stairs and across the road to have me barnet cut, waked in the door, sawat dee bro, let’s get a haircut happening, and sat down.
Now, what you need to understand about Thai people is that they keep all of the fucks they have to give in the middle of an island called ko phi phi don, which is sort of east of Phuket, which is where your seedy sex tourist uncle goes on holiday. Anyway, the island is totally empty. Thai people give literally zero fucks. I’ll write a list for you of the fucks that Thais give:
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–Sanuk
As you can see, no fucks to give at all– Apart from sanuk. Sanuk is this awesome concept Thai people have that pretty much means everything should be at least a little bit fun. You combine these together with the fact that most industries in thailand are more or less unregulated, and you end up with a place where people don’t really gaf about much more then making sure they’re having a good time.
The barber shop I’m talking about here was a pretty good example of this Thai zeigeist. Zero effort in presentation, hot as fuck, stinks, and shitty english. As I sat down and attempted to make what I wanted done with my hair understood by Aroon or Kasem or whatever my would-​be hairdressers name was, I realised I was fucked.
Now, when I’m abroad I prescribe to the traditional British multilingual method (BMM). When an Englishman desires to make oneself understood by a native, learning secondary and tertiary languages is unnecessary– just say what you want louder, slower, and with more inflection. Guaranteed 100% to work (eventually) every time. After gesticulating and shouting for a good five minutes I felt that my point had made it across the lingual gap, and we were ready to begin the haircut.
My erstwhile barber then proceeded to whip out a pair of battered clippers and shear my head like a sheep. Fucking A. After the inital shock of losing almost a year’s worth of hair I accepted my fate, and realised I was beyond caring. I started thinking about what I was going to do to inject a little sanuk into this second-​rate fawlty towers skit that was playing out through the mirror in front of me. I sat for some time cogitating on this when the barber promptly completed the complete shaving of my head and turned to face me.
«You wan nails done?» He asked in shattered english. Why the fuck not? I was already bald, I may as well have some shiny damn nails as well. Footstools and a short thai girl were arranged, and suddenly my nails were groomed and gleaming.
«You wan face done?» Aroon/​Kasem asked me again, which rather seemed par for the course at this stage. A quick shave later left me reclining in the chair with a towel around my neck and goo all over my face in a tiled hole in the wall on a 35 degree humid day in fucking Bangkok. Great stuff, having a fucking sanuk time right there, I was.
After an eternity of sweaty torment my tonsorial jailer deemed it suitable to let me go and settle my bill. As I was reaching into my pocket for some grimy baht my coiffeur leaned conspiratorially toward me and leered «You wan massage?» with a wink.
«Not from you, ace», I replied– to which he advised that no, the massages actually take place upstairs. Having come this far and not wanting to bitch out, I went for the optional massage.
I’m sure some of you have seen the inside of a dodgy massage parlor. Those of you that haven’t can just paint yourselves a picture with your imagination brush. The point here is that I went upstairs, had my massage on top of everything else, and it ended exactly as most thai massages end.
It was the best damn haircut of my life.
Now that I’ve explained this story to you, I want you to appreciate how awesome that haircut would have been for me. I want you to visualise the concept of how glorious and awesome such a haircut would be. Now that you’re holding this concept in your head, I want you to think of the exact antithesis of this haircut. I want you to imagine the shittest, most awful, terrible, haircut you can conceive of. Now that you can imagine this festering shit of a haircut, you can grasp the general idea of how my haircut at Dr Follicles was.
Attend Dr Follicles Barber Shop for vitriol-​laced hair butchery delivered by disaffected hipster graphic design diploma dropouts who never even studied hairdressing

There was some big controversy surrounding Dr Follicles a couple of years back. What happened is that an up-​tight politician went on the war path, chasing down the prevalence of alcohol as gratuity in the hair cutting business. Little did I know at the time, ladies hairdressers had been plying customers with champagne for bloody years. So what I thought was a little secret nicety that belonged to the Follicles shops exclusively, was really a given in the industry.
To clarify: at Dr Follicles, they give you a beer when you get your hair cut; nothing more, nothing less. They do not and never did ply alcohol to intoxication, nor did they have or require a liquor licence. But apparently they did and do. But now they have one (a licence) so they can get back to business.
They also play sick vinyl when you get your do… Pity the hair cutters aren’t as good as they used to be, but the novelty factor is worth a visit in itself.