JUST A GRUMPY OLD MAN HAVING HIS SAY ABOUT AN INDUSTRY HE LOVES.

By Matt Clarke

So, here’s my two cents. Walk into just about any Australian barbershop these days, and you’ll find a familiar formula: clean white walls, polished concrete, a sign with a pun on fading or clipping, and a playlist that’s either 90s boom-bap or moody house music, depending on the suburb. The barbers? They’re in crisp Dickies, New Era caps, and Dunks, usually filming their latest low taper in cinematic 4K, often before the haircut is even finished.

Don’t get me wrong, I love that barbering in Australia has evolved. We punch well above our weight in global barbering scene. But lately, it feels like we’ve all started copying each other, TikTok trends and the same old low taper or burst fade, and we’ve lost what made barbering exciting in the first place: originality, personality, banter, community and craft.

We’ve become obsessed with the clout of barbering, a focus on brand affiliation, educating for status and somewhere along the way, we’ve forgotten about the client.

The Rise of the Instagram Barber

Social media has done incredible things for our industry... no doubt about it. It’s built empires, launched careers, connected barbers across borders, and introduced clients to barbers they never would’ve found. But it’s also created a version of barbering that exists more for the algorithm than for the client.

In Australia, you can see the impact clearly. A new generation of barbers are learning the craft through short form TikTok’s. They’re filming every cut, working every angle, chasing transitions and lighting setups before they’ve mastered the bread-and-butter haircuts. It’s content-first, clientsecond.

It’s a strange world we live in where a man can come in for a service to make him look and feel better and in return gets filmed the whole time, forced into an impromptu photoshoot then charged a premium for the experience.

Again, I love this industry but a focus on developing relationships, asking a client how their new baby is going, did they get that new promotion or show me photos of the new bird they’re chirping, feels like a lost part of barbering. And frankly, that’s the best part of the job. So, take your photos and videos but remember it’s just a marketing tool to get the column booked out weeks in advance or a line or personals out the door. Clients are still key.

Style Over Substance

Here’s where it gets dicey: being stylish doesn’t mean you’re skilled. And right now, the industry is full of barbers who look the part but don’t yet deliver the part.

You can wear the uniform. You can put inspirational hustler quotes in your captions. You can shoot 4K at 60fps. But can you cut hair, under pressure, with no ring light and a full column waiting?

Remembering everyone’s name and picking up the conversation from where you left it 3 weeks prior? Too many barbers right now are mimicking, not mastering. It’s not even their fault. The industry rewards speed, virality, and sameness. But we can’t let the illusion of cool replace the reality of craftsmanship.

The Monoculture Problem

A few years back, every shop had its own identity. You’d walk into a barbershop in Fremantle, and it’d feel totally different from a shop in Fitzroy or Fortitude Valley. Different music. Different energy. Different approach. Now? It’s all blending. The cuts look the same. The shop fits look the same. The captions are the same. We’re all just remixing the same five trending videos, chasing the same engagement numbers. This monoculture doesn’t just kill creativity; it actually devalues the work. When everyone’s doing the same thing, clients stop seeing barbering as artistry and start treating it like a commodity. Just another quick service, easily swapped and replaced.

We’ve got to bring back originality. Because if you’re not doing something personal, something expressive, something that feels like you, then what are you offering that no one else can?

A quick shout-out to the authentic out there, the Little Rebel barbershop or the Johnny Voodoo’s of the world. I see you guys and love everything you stand for. The cornerstone of your personal communities.

Craftsmanship Is Still the Flex

You know what’s really cool? Being booked out three weeks in advance, not because your videos went viral, but because your clients trust you. They know you’re going to deliver a clean cut, every time. They know you’ll remember their kid’s name, their last holiday, how they like their neckline. Craft is timeless. You don’t need a ring light to be a weapon on the floor. You need discipline. Curiosity. A willingness to screw it up a few times before you get it right. You need time in the game and people around you who’ll call you out when your blends are sloppy or your shape is off. In Australia, we’ve got some incredible mentors, educators, and OG’s who have been putting out world-class work without ever chasing clout. And the new generation, the hungry ones, need to see more of that. Not just what looks good on a grid, but what works in real life.

Let’s romanticise that again. Let’s make it cool to care about your sectioning, to practice your scissor work, to learn new techniques on different textures. Let’s make consistency cooler than content.

A Culture Shift, not a Cancellation

This isn’t a call to burn your ring light or delete your Instagram. Social media’s a tool, and when it’s used right, it can open doors. But we need to stop mistaking it for the job itself.

Being a barber isn’t about filming haircuts. It’s about building trust, solving problems, creating structure, making someone feel better when they leave than when they walked in. If the vibe is there, but the skill isn’t, the client won’t come back. And if the skill is there but the service sucks, same deal. The goal isn’t to cancel cool. It’s to redefine it.

The Final Fade

We’re at a fork in the road as an industry, especially here in Australia. We can keep following each other in circles, chasing clout, copying what works, and burning out when the algorithm changes.

Or we can double down on the real. We can invest in our craft, our uniqueness, and our clients.

We can remember that barbering is a trade, a creative practice, a career, a legacy, not just a vibe.

Cool is dead.

Craft is king.

Long live the real barbers.

@matt.clarke.hair