The clowns who cut your hair for what you can afford

By Alex Cimpeanu

Not to say all students are skint, but most of us would rather not spend a fortune on getting our ends done. Tutti Fruitti is here for the rescue. The owner of the hair salon with the same name says that everyone should be able to get their hair styled at whatever price they can afford.

“The salon has been going for five years now,” Fruitti said. “It all started from a caravan I converted into a salon in 2012.”

After getting evicted from where they were based, in a school lot in Deptford, South-East London, they found a more stable place.

The space used to be the first barbershop in Deptford “I wanted that shop for 13 years- I fell in love with it when I first came to London, ” Fruitti added.

“I always thought one day it would be mine.”

“We’ve never put a gender on the cost of cutting your hair. It’s more about the amount of time you spend on someone’s hair,” Fruitti said.

Other salons got inspired to also do that. But there’s still a long way to go.

Here's a pre-lockdown chart of how much people paid for haircuts:

Source: YouGov

They also do “Pay what you can Thursdays, where anyone can go in and get their hair done, paying anything they can afford. They have students, homeless people, people in financial difficulty coming in, and they do it because they realize the importance of self-care and how that can change the perspective on, well, life.

Alfred Ang is a 29 and works in hospitality in Central London. He likes looking after himself, so he's very picky with his hair.

"Most I've spent was £150 to perm my hair," he said, "on average I'd say around 40 per cut," he adds.

Getting a haircut at this salon is an experience in itself. Although the place is tiny, it has a lot of personality.

Fruitti remembers always being fascinated by clowns and the whole performance side of it. The fact that it went into the salon is no surprise. They remember Christmas plays in school: ”My classmates would be dressed as Mary and Joseph, but I’d be dressed as a clown.

“I also have a clown collection at home,” they added.

“We used to dress up as clowns a lot at the salon, but then Covid came and we stopped because we had to wear masks,” Fruitti said.

“People loved it- it's just bright and bold and playful!”

Here’s where you can book an appointment: https://www.tuttiifruittiilondon.com