Some Stylists Are Cutting Clients’ Hair With An Axe

Sputnik/YouTube

Between people dyeing their hair with Nutella and a python that massages you while you get a cut, going to the salon is becoming an extreme sport! And now, the latest absurd idea: using an axe to cut hair. Yes, an axe. As in the farm implement you use to split logs. What?

This hair trend comes out of the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, where Russian hairdresser Daniil Istomin says the sharp blade of an axe is actually easier to use than plain old scissors. Honestly, we’re not totally surprised that the trend has emerged in this far north city—partly because Siberians strike us as extremely hardcore and partly because what else is there to do up there?

Sputnik/YouTube

In the hair-raising (sorry, couldn’t resist) video, Istomin places his victim’s—ahem, his client’s—head on a wooden chopping block. From there, he swings the massive axe up and down onto her locks. It’s as bad as it sounds. But to be fair, he also does more delicate shearing techniques when the woman is sitting up straight. And the final product doesn’t look bad, necessarily. However, it would appear to take several years off your lifespan due to stress.

And it’s not just Istomin who is jumping on the axe-haircut trend. In fact, it’s not even anything new. Cutting hair with an axe actually harkens back to the 1930s and 1940s, when axe salesmen would do live demonstrations to show off the quality of their wares. These salesman would shave a logger in front of a crowd of potential buyers, and ideally, someone would buy an axe as a result. Also, some poor man would get a terrifying haircut.

All I know is, this is one trend I’m not eager to try out. I don’t care how sharp that axe is or how good the cut is or anything else. Having a massive tool that is most commonly used to behead chickens, among other horrifying things, swinging through the air next to my ear is going to be a hard “no” from me.

Sputnik/YouTube

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About the Author
Jessica Suss
Current high-school English teacher, native Chicagoan, and nut butter enthusiast moonlighting as a writer.

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