Imagine cutting the hair of the equivalent of every spectator who attended the last two All-Ireland senior hurling and football finals at the 82,000-capacity Croke Park and then some.
Cork barber Mick Moriarty said the number of haircuts he has given over nearly six decades of clipping and cutting has come to about 360,000.
“I would do 20 haircuts a day, 120 a week, 6,000 a year – that’s nearly 60 years ago, so do the maths,” he said.
Affectionately known as ‘The Baldy Barber’, the 77-year-old is hanging up his barber’s scissors on Saturday evening when he closes his shop on Great William O’Brien Street in Blackpool, Cork. It will bring to an end a family tradition of haircutting going back almost 90 years.
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Mr Moriarty said it was his late father, Peter, who first entered the trade, setting up his shop on Merchant’s Quay, Cork city, in February 1937. He opened a second shop in 1960 in Blackpool, which continued after the Merchant’s Quay one closed in 1981.
“When I started with him on March 14th, 1966, a haircut cost 2/6 shillings,” said Mr Moriarty, who earned his nickname when his hair started thinning during his days playing minor soccer.
Over the years, he has seen countless styles come and go from the teddy boy ‘ducktail’ to the Elvis quiff, the Beatle mop top, the pageboy, the mullet, John Travolta slickbacks and crewcuts all the way up to buzzcuts.
Asked how barbering has changed since he first started, he said: “Everything is electric now – it’s all machine work.
“There’s very little scissors work nowadays whereas back then it was handclippers, and my father said, ‘Keep using the handclippers, boy – it will build up your hands for the scissors and make the work a lot easier’, and it did.”
The secret of being a good barber?
“Well, first of all you must be good at your job cutting hair, but you must also be a good listener,” he said.
“Don’t try and dominate the chat in the chair – that’s very important because people don’t like a fellow ramming things down their throat whether it be religion or politics or sport.”
Over the years Mr Moriarty has given haircuts and shaves to everyone from dockers to bishops and sports figures such as footballer Miah Dennehy and GAA star Denis Coughlan.
One of his last customers was also his longest standing customer, Tim Crowley (88) from Blarney, Co Cork, who remembers his first hair cut in Merchant’s Quay.
“My father brought me in on the crossbar of his bike,” he said.
“I was 13 or 14 and later I used to cycle in myself to Merchants Quay and then to Blackpool and I’ve been coming ever since. It’s the service and the courtesy and the friendliness that marks it out.”
As Mr Moriarty prepares to shut up shop for the penultimate time, he is in a reflective mood.
“We have had very loyal customers over the years, and I’ve had over 30 people work for me and they were all great staff. Donnacha O’Connell has been with me for 26 years including through three floods, my triple bypass and two knee and one hip operation – he’s been brilliant,” he said.
Asked about the future, he said: “I’m due to get my second hip done next week, but I’m looking forward to spending more time with my wife, Mary, and my daughters, Louise and Sarah.
“I will miss it, but I’ve had a great life out of it – it gave me a great living and I’ve met fantastic people from north, south, east and west.”
