75ZT Community

Yes remember the plank used to go about once every six months with my grandad, our local barber Paul bayliss he won the lottery and gave it up, then bought two female hairdresser shops and ran those instead, left his wife and lived with one of the female hairdressers he is still running them now he's in his early 90's now, but lives on his own see him go to the local pub everyday, and driving the Jag he bought himself with his winnings.

Don't remember a plank but do recall a cushion or two being used for us little ones, also a cut-throat razor to shave the back of the neck after a quick sharpen on a leather strop. Our trip to the Barber was once a year, mum would keep us trimmed otherwise and I seem to have a recollection of a basin being used at times.

takestock wrote:Anyone remember the plank of wood across the armrests of the chair to sit on

Yes. And a funny smell from the heater in the middle of the floor.

That was before, in order to save money, Mum got hair cutting equipment, and did ours at home. There was a particular implement known as a hair thinner. Basically a razor blade in a comb. It was supposed to thin the hair by cutting it with the blade, but actually seemed to work by tearing hair out. I can still feel the pain. TBF she got quite good using the scissors. If as I'm clearing their apartment, I find the kit, that hair thinner is going to get smashed with the biggest hammer I have. Then burned as well.

Duncan wrote:

takestock wrote:Anyone remember the plank of wood across the armrests of the chair to sit on

Yes. And a funny smell from the heater in the middle of the floor.

That was before, in order to save money, Mum got hair cutting equipment, and did ours at home. There was a particular implement known as a hair thinner. Basically a razor blade in a comb. It was supposed to thin the hair by cutting it with the blade, but actually seemed to work by tearing hair out. I can still feel the pain. TBF she got quite good using the scissors. If as I'm clearing their apartment, I find the kit, that hair thinner is going to get smashed with the biggest hammer I have. Then burned as well.

I was just thinking, my mother bought one of those hair thinners, as well. It was like an implement of torture. It was a cream colour and double-ended. I must ask my siblings if they know what happened to it.

daveo138 wrote:I was just thinking, my mother bought one of those hair thinners, as well. It was like an implement of torture. It was a cream colour and double-ended. I must ask my siblings if they know what happened to it.

And you know what, they STILL sell the things. £8 from Amazon.

For once, a succesful day. Fixed something. Tap in the bathroom had quite suddenly started dribbling instead of a decent flow. Suspected the aerator was gunked up, but even when removed still the same. Affected hot and cold the same too. Took the cartridge out and found debris, which I suspect had got stuck between the cartridge and the outlet to the spout. Whatever, clearing it out restored floe again. And amazingly, the valves weren't stuck and the tap came apart without drama!

The last time I had to fit some new tap valves, I had to use a wiper arm puller to remove the tap handles.

daveo138 wrote:The last time I had to fit some new tap valves, I had to use a wiper arm puller to remove the tap handles.

Yeah, I was kind of worried about that. Luckily, none of that. One thing worth mentioning, a problem I've encountered over years, is trying to get the valve out of a 'normal' tap to replace the rubber washer or similar. Trying to make sure the tap itself stays still while turning the valve is tricky. Last time I had to do it was on the MILs (sadly after she was gone) tap. Had seen a product on Dragons Den that adressed the problem. Barely more than £20. Used only once (so far) and reduced the stress so much.