IN THE BARBER CHAIR

Mark Maciver of SliderCuts talks to us about how the barbers chair provides men so much more than just a haircut

Who are you, who is Mark Maciver? How would friends and family describe you?

Generous not being big headed but generous Caring A risk taker - but only when it comes to business

What makes SliderCuts unique?

Our professionalism our community our atmosphere. People always comment on the great vibe. The core – the haircuts are good; the service is good. As well as me being the face of SliderCuts. SliderCuts is not just a shop it's personal

What topics are often spoken about in the chair?

Obvious ones – current topics, football and music are often discussed General life topics are spoken about but the specific topic depends on age 18 to 21-yearolds talk about college or university 21 to 30-yearolds discuss navigating life, career and living spaces More mature customers tend to chat to us about relationships and children One topic that is discussed regardless of age is mental health

Why do you think people open up in the chair? People feel free to open up in the chair because of the foundations of barbering Your barber is not just your barber Your barber has been there at each and every stage of your life Your barber gave you your very first haircut, cut your hair on your first day of school, on your birthday, your graduation, your wedding day and when you had your first child They have been there for every major event as well as at your regular shape-up You build a relationship with them

Barbers play an interesting role in the community

I’ve known certain clients since they were kids that went down the wrong path or ended up in gangs Now these are people who are feared on the streets Despite that when they come into the shop that gangster mentality is left at the door I gave them their first haircut as a child I saw them crying in the chair so they cannot put on the gangster mentality with me

People have been coming in for so long, it is a therapy check Even when you switch barbers, you know the barber shop is a place you feel comfortable so it is easy to open up

The aesthetics also play a part You are standing over the customer in a big leather comfortable chair and the vibrations from the hair clippers block out the noise of the world This creates an environment where it is just you and them in the room.

Does a shape up change your mood?

Absolutely A good haircut makes you look good, which makes you feel good A bad haircut on the other hand can put you in a bad mood That bad mood can lead to an argument or bad event all because you had a bad haircut So yes, a haircut definitely affects your mood

Have you ever been in a situation where you could tell someone wanted to open up about their mental health?

I naturally poke I always ask questions and create an environment where people can easily and comfortably open up A few years ago, I started cutting a customer that was newly married He had recently come back from his honeymoon and I asked him how the honeymoon was He said the honeymoon was good and gave a generic summary Then I asked, "how was it really?" He said the honeymoon was horrible and explained why it was horrible Holding his true thoughts back contributed to how he was feeling mentally and being able to speak openly about his feelings definitely reduced his stress People say what they are supposed to say, not what they really want to say

I used to be quite shy and overcame my shyness through acting and pretending to be somebody that I was not I realised that I couldn’t be the only one that felt this way but I didn’t necessarily have the platform or surroundings to open up about how I felt As a result and from my own personal experiences, when I became a barber and opened my shop, I tried to create a safe and comfortable environment where people could openly and honestly discuss their thoughts

Have you seen the positive effects of opening up and having those conversations?

One hundred percent Just a few weeks ago, I had a conversation with a customer about learning to say sorry and not being argumentative

I told him a story about how some kids had kicked a ball into an overgrown garden I saw the kids trying to get the ball, so I offered to get the ball instead

As I went into the garden, the homeowner saw me and got angry My first thought was to explain why I was there but instead, I just said sorry That completely diffused the situation The homeowner explained that because the garden was overgrown it was dangerous for people to come in Swallowing my pride and saying sorry completely diffused the situation as the homeowner was able to explain his reasoning That can be applied to so many life situations There would be less arguments, less falling outs, less deaths Think about it How many arguments start out with something small then become bigger because of pride

Going back to the customer who I had the initial conversation with, he had almost gotten into a fight with someone but remembered the story of saying sorry His sorry diffused the situation That could have saved his life

Have you noticed any possible reasons why mental health issues develop and changes that can be made to improve them?

In a number of circumstances, mental health issues develop due to comparison You think your life is horrible and another person ’ s life is perfect Depression can result because you are comparing yourself to a fake image Personally, people may see me and think “goals” He has over 190,000 followers, he has a successful business, he has family and he’s always smiling in pictures But it is not all roses I tell embarrassing stories about myself and speak about the less positive aspects of marriage because I don’t want people to build a lie based on who they think I am

Another contributing factor is telling people they can be whatever they want to be, they are amazing, they are perfect, they are great at everything and if they think about it hard enough they will have it

The reality is that we all cannot be perfect at everything and we cannot do whatever we would like We are all shouting about mental health without realising that part of the problem is the belief that we can all have everything

What happens when you tell people that all they need to do is this or that and they can achieve all their goals What happens when they do this or that but don’t achieve their goals? What happens to their mental health? We are setting people up for failure

How many people want to start for Arsenal? Of all the hundreds of people that want to be in the startup line, only 11 can be selected There are people that work harder than those in the start-up line but are not selected Of course, you can be in that start-up line, but we need to manage the expectations of “ you might not” be in that line We tell people to simply work hard eat right be disciplined and it will be theirs What if they do not get into the start-up line? You can easily fall into depression thinking what options do I have what do I have left did I not work hard enough did I not believe enough? Life is not over if you don’t achieve that specific goal What about another league? What about the other teams?

Not only that certain factors may be out of your control I had a friend that wanted to play professional football He worked hard and was disciplined But he had an injury and could no longer play What happens then?

To combat that we need more voices going against the grain We need people willing to approach these situations with an open mind and element of reality in order to manage situations that might not go as planned We need to have better conversations I will never tell anyone not to chase their dream or work hard but it is important to manage expectations The conversation should be “work hard, follow your dreams but have a plan b, c and d” At the end of the day nothing is guaranteed and we should be open to that

How did you become so insightful?

I studied myself others and learnt from personal experiences

From being a poor kid with buck teeth in run down clothes and no haircut moving from council house to council house to the racial abuse I encountered at an all-white school I wasn’t a lady’s man I wasn’t the cool kid I wasn’t confident At around 16 or 17-yearsold I began pretending to be confident I pierced both my ears and my nose I was trying to get the ladies I was cutting my hair every 3 days to stay fresh!

Then in my early 20’s I became a Christian I started to acknowledge the insecurities in me I didn’t want to be the flashy boastful kid that I was pretending to be Through self-assessment and self-reflection I became quieter in life In assessing myself I started to assess others

I completed a foundation course in social work where I learnt about psychology, the role of the mind and human behaviour I loved the course, it was truly fascinating I really connected with psychology and actually aced the course I wanted to be a counsellor I wanted to help people

I realised that more people were similar to me than I thought If you don’t like your eyebrows, there’s probably a whole community of people that do not like their eyebrows either I started talking to people openly and asking questions, understanding that most people are simply putting on a face to pass through the day, so no-one sees who they really are

What is next for you?

I am quite keen to open a barber and business academy to pass on my own business lessons to others I have also written a book and I hope to write another soon My book is called Shaping up Culture” and can be found on all major book platforms such as Amazon

I’m really keen to start public speaking I really enjoy speaking and feel I have a different perspective to offer outside of the norm or status quo I don’t often follow the trend, instead I say and do exactly what makes sense to me This has helped me in business I could have followed the trend and opened my shop where everyone else was opening shops, but I decided to do what made sense to me and open on Hackney Road

Not only that, I don’t think or speak from the perspective of the ideal world however many people teach or speak from the point of an ideal world Whilst it is great to think about an ideal world, we don’t live in an ideal world In an ideal world we would be able to walk freely without fear or threats I speak from a point of reality so the platform to speak from that angle is certainly on the books

MarkMaciverisoneoftheindustryheavyweightsofhair AsoneofthemostrespectedfigureheadsintheUK,heisfavouredbymany householdnamesincludingStormzy,JanetJackson,AnthonyJoshua,KendrickLemarandLebronJamestonameafew!Amassingovera quarterofamillionfollowersacrosssocials,Markisabarber,businessowner,authorandcommunityleader Fromstartingoutcuttinghair inhisbedroominhismum'sflat,hehasbroughthisself-taughtskillstoclientsfromallovertheworldtositinhisbarbershop,SliderCuts basedinHackney ImagessuppliedbyMarkMaciver