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  • In pictures

Bloodletting at the barber-surgeon’s

Scratchy throat? Burning fever? Broken heart? It all comes down to the same issue: too much blood.

  • Article

The ugly truth about fast fashion

Aja Barber reflects on her relationship with fast fashion, outlines its polluting and destructive effects, and shares the small, personal changes we can make that could help.

  • Article

How your hairdresser could save your life

Barbers and hairdressers have a unique view of us – one that means they can spot potentially dangerous health problems. Find out how buzzcuts can lead to blood-pressure checks, and dip-dyes show the way to the dermatologist.

  • Article

Our endless quest for eternal youth

From poisonous 16th-century cosmetics to the latest “vampire facelift”, discover the fashions in unsavoury methods for improving our appearance.

All stories (9)

Images

  • Records of the Incorporation of Barbers, Glasgow : formerly the Incorporation of Chirurgeons and Barbers / extracted and narrated by James B. Tennent.
  • Barbers dressing hair in a clearing. Wood engraving.
  • Two street barbers dressing hair. Wood engraving.
  • Two Japanese barbers: shaving (left), and hairdressing (right). Coloured photograph.
  • Two Japanese barbers: shaving (left), and hairdressing (right). Coloured photograph.
  • Two barbers at work. Gouache painting on mica by an Indian artist.
  • Two barbers: Peter Paul Magnus (above) and Nardus of Naples (below). Line engraving.
  • Three officers having their hair dressed by three barbers in Quebec. Wood engraving after S. P. Hall.
  • Travelling barbers dressing hair in a courtyard. Wood engraving by Vierge after a photograph by W. Saunders.
  • Half-human, half-monkey barbers shaving a goat. Etching by G. van der Gucht after J. Wootton.
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