Word: helmholz
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Helmholz prepares for his singe jobs like a surgeon before an operation. Each customer gets a thorough workup, with the results-tensile strength, absorption factor and elasticity of hair-printed on special reference cards. Says Helmholz: "We leave nothing to chance." Then the hair is washed and scissor-trimmed by aides, after which Helmholz himself arrives, torch in hand. Moving it from right to left across the customer's head, using a comb as a baffle, he burns off a few strands at a time, starting at the front of the crown and working down to the earlobes...
...Casualties. Helmholz has given 10,000 blowtorch cuts at a cost of $15 for an initial blaze and $10.50 for a return visit-with no casualties. Seventy percent of the customers come back, even though they must make appointments three days in advance. Says one recent, first-time customer: "My hair usually flies about and makes me look like Einstein. After my blowtorch cut, it miraculously stayed in place...
Women too are flocking to Helmholz's shop. With female customers, he twists the hair into separate ropes and then burns the ends. Afterward, he shampoos the hair as usual, but dries it, natch, with a blow dryer...
...Word of Helmholz's technique has reached other barbers as well. At least 40 have come to him to learn the torch trick and are now practicing on customers in scattered shops in California, Georgia, Texas and other states...
...Helmholz has even more exotic skills to impart. He does a brisk business styling men's chest hair into shamrocks, peace signs, hearts and other shapes on request. His torso tonsures, however, are done strictly with clippers...