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A day in the life of the Beatles barber of Buenos Aires

CCTV.com

02-21-2017 08:23 BJT

There's a barbershop in Buenos Aires where you can have any haircut you want - as long as it's a Beatles haircut. The most popular style is the John Lennon 1967 Sergeant Pepper cut, a look that's still going strong 50 years after the release of the Beatles' hit record.

Welcome to the Beatles barbershop of Buenos Aires, where the only haircuts on offer are inspired by the styles of the Fab Four.

Hairdresser Gerardo Weiss has brought together his twin passions to create what he claims is one of only four Beatles-inspired barbershops in the world.

After a long career working for top Argentine hairdressers, Weiss decided to forge his own path and opened a barbershop back in 1988.

His modest salon was nothing out of the ordinary, until one night in 2004 he had a dream that would change his life forever.

"One day I dreamt that The Beatles were waiting for me at the door of the barber shop and I fell asleep in the dream and I couldn't attend to them, a very, very crazy thing. It made me feel so worried, so bad, I woke up so upset, that I changed everything instantly, overnight. I took out the pictures of conventional cuts, I started to fill the walls with pictures of them and I said to myself, 'from now on, this becomes a Beatles barber shop'," Hairdresser Gerardo Weiss said.

Weiss has hundreds of dedicated customers who - along with those who are simply curious - cross the city to get their hair cut at his salon in Flores, a working-class neighbourhood 30 minutes from downtown Buenos Aires.

Daniel Bertolot has been a client since 2010. He describes himself as a total fan of the Beatles and proudly shows off his passing resemblance to John Lennon.

"People on the street point me out or ask me, 'how do you do John?' At Paul McCartney's concerts, also, the salesmen have stopped me many times and they would say, 'help me to sell, John, that's a hard day to sell'," Bertolot said.

Everyone who comes to Weiss' salon can have their hair done to the sound of "Can't Buy Me Love" and wear a gown covered in pictures of the Fab Four.

One of the most important items in the shop hangs on the back of the main door.

A chart with all the different hairstyles worn by the group across their career acts as a guide for customers and forms the basis for Weiss' creations.

"The boys come and choose the cut from the chart according to the year of the Beatles, and Ringo, George, Paul or John. But the most requested is John's 1967 Sergeant Pepper, which is a cut that was far ahead of its time. John had a cut with a parted fringe and for me, all the rock hairstyles were born from there," Weiss said.

And in the record's 50th anniversary year, John's 1967 Sergeant Pepper haircut could be set to get even more popular.

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