“At the barbers”

In all neighborhoods with newcomers you find hairdressers, many hairdressers. Apparently it is important to look good if you live under poor circumstances. This counts just as well for Lagos Nigeria, Rotterdam The Netherlands as for Dhaka Bangladesh. In the Rotterdam Tarwewijk I counted 15 barbershops in the same amount of streets. For all its cultures and hairstyles there is a barber. In Rotterdam and Lagos the barbers is a meeting place as well. The fathers and their sons and friends drink a cup of tea at the hairdresser at the end of the day. They chat while Dad is shaved and son is having a haircut. And besides that the occupation of hairdresser as well as that of tailor is a newcomers profession. It does not take much to start of the business, you have a low overhead. A comb, scissors and a mirror will do. In the Tarwewijk (wheat area) we found a combination of a barber and a tailor. Also typical for newcomers in Rotterdam: a shop in a store.

The Barbers

Lagos -  A barbers at the Iddo Terminus. Barbing is a job common among newcomers to the city. With little investment and less skill the business goes on.…
Andrew Esiebo – Migrationpapa

Real Brazilian hair

Rotterdam -  It is hard to tell in which country this picture is taken. This is the shopping street in the Old (Wild) West, where over 90 nationalities share daily life. Only…
Lino Hellings – Rotterdam Lab

Please be brave

Rotterdam -  At the hairdresser in Dordtselaan a poster is displayed. It says: ‘ I will act when I witness a violent situation in the street.'The poster was published by the…
Nies Medema – Migrationpapa

barbershop and tailor in one

Rotterdam -  There are many shops in shops. That keeps the costs low for everyone. Some of the owners sit, talk and drink Fanta and Cola at the end of the day…
Lino Hellings – Migrationpapa

Mongolian saloon?

Dhaka -  As children we used to talk about Italian Saloons (‘It’ is a brick in Bangla, so these were saloons where you sat on roadside bricks). We also had Mongolian Saloons…
Shahidul Alam – Migrationpapa

Barbershop

Rotterdam -  As soon as the evening falls around five the traffic lights, streetlamps and shopwindows add colour to the grey public space. People come home from work and school and go…
Lino Hellings – Migrationpapa

Mobile energy barbershop

Lagos -  The barber uses two small generators to ensure his business goes uninterrupted by power failures. Generators are one of Nigeria’s main exports. Despite the government’s failure to assure electricity, users…
Andrew Esiebo – Migrationpapa

Barber shop and pigeons

Dhaka -  Yet another barber shop. I was intrigued by the fact that this doubled as the place where the barber reared his homing pigeons. There were several houses and the pigeons…
Shahidul Alam – Migrationpapa

Kapsalon Adem

Rotterdam -  This kapsalon, the Dutch word for barbershop in the Dordtselaan is called Adem, which means breath in Dutch. In Arabic it is the mens name. The barbershop is filled with…
Lino Hellings – Migrationpapa