The place to go for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle haircut in 1990
Montreal barber shop shaved clients' heads with a variety of styles
When it was time for a haircut featuring a cartoon character, the Ebony & Ivory barber shop in Montreal was the place to go in 1990.
"What an obsession they've become with so many kids," said Midday host Valerie Pringle on May 10, 1990.
She was talking about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, one of which was seen in a graphic behind her with a set of shears looming above.
And so, the "enterprising hairdresser" in the city was cashing in on the craze, as reporter Sue Smith found out.
Roger Rabbit, too
"They want to be in style when they're going to school," said a barber at the shop in the city's Little Burgundy neighbourhood as he carved a Ninja Turtle design into the hair on the back of a young customer's head.
He said kids asked for other characters like Roger Rabbit, or their nicknames — "Everything."
Smith said the shop was a business run by a group of friends who had grown up in the neighbourhood.
"Monty is the specialist," she added, as a baseball cap-wearing barber worked on a client.
"The eyebrows and the eyes and the nose and the mouth have to be hair," he said, showing the complexity of Sylvester the Cat on a boy's close-cropped scalp. "Everything else has to be shaved out."
His customer was happy with the job — but he said the appeal of such haircuts took a little longer to grow on his mother.
"Last time, when ... I had a Mickey Mouse, she freaked out," the boy said, describing his mother's reaction to the handiwork on his head. "She likes it now."
