Haircuts by children

The brainchild of a canadian artist, Haircuts by Children aimed to 'challenge the forces of power and trust between children and adults'.

The children concerned, all 10- and 11-year old members of Birmingham Repertory Theatre's Junior Drama Group, were, joy of girly joys, to be let loose in a city centre hair salon for a Saturday afternoon where they would give free haircuts to anyone fool enough to proffer their coiffures.

Margot was thrilled, having long dreamed of becoming a hairstylist, of the hairdresser's life of glamour. Two two-hour sessions of training by a qualified hairdresser and Margot was set to go; complaining sorely that she had only been taught how to cut fringes, layers and (oh horror!) how to operate electric clippers.

More than 30 victims, sorry, clients, turned up to sacrifice their barnets: indulgent parents of the children (me included), lads in their twenties wanting a free haircut, unconcerned at the risk of a short-back-sides-and-top-scalping from a novice child in charge of a hair clipper.
And an elderly lady with a gorgeous head of wavy, white, shoulder-length hair; in a leap of faith telling her mini-stylist to do whatever she thought might suit her. Was this woman of sound mind?!

Reviewed in the press, Margot finds herself in print, quoted thus: 'I was practising on my dolls this morning. I tried to give them a Pob (Posh's latest hairdo, an asymmetrical take on the bob), but it turned out all wrong! I search her room and find, head-down in the waste-paper bin, three Barbies, the worse for wear and sporting skew-whiff and spiky Pob-alikes.

Margot, a couple of days later, announced the she no longer desired a career as a coiffeuse, prefering instead to aim towards cosmetic dentistry. I just hope no progressive artist ever gets funding for a 'Dentistry by Children' event!