Hello

nucking fackered.

Another day at the mini - me salon.  Once again, forgot to take my camera, so nay photies. Oops. You'll just have to believe me when I say I cut many varied styles during my shift. Here are some of today's clients:
Evelyn. Pissed off. Wanting a change. 
Whack! Undercut  up to the occipital bone, lots of sliced out layers and a concave baseline. Woo! 
Evelyn won't mind me saying that she has a raucous head of hair, requiring some serious blowdrying to tame it. I think she was well chuffed with the result. During the haircut she spoke of her ambition to have an urchin cut(basically, short all over) dyed blonde. Go on yersel hen!
Andrea. Popped by for a fringe trim. Spoke about her work researching the fishing industry in Scotland and we agreed that she could get involved in my forthcoming project at the Scottish Fisheries Museum called A Taste of Europe. http://www.scotfishmuseum.org/events/ Great! Andrea is a top boffin with many internationally renowned publications under her belt. I, on the other hand, am the proud creator of one glossy hairdressing magazine about Dundee. http://www.ninetrades.com/projects/AlanGrieve.htm Should be interesting.
My mum and dad were in for a trim. Mum was telling me that the building behind the one we're in was where she used to live, on the top floor, in the 1950's, as her parents were the caretakers of the Georgian three storey block. It was also where her and my dad had their first romantic encounters, under the watchful eye of my gran Young.
Margorie was in, having her annual haircut. She has three kids and works part time as a graphic designer. Phew! She said no problem when I asked if she'd be interested in putting a website together for me. I think it's about time I got myself some sort of creative identity online.
Hannah was my last client. We spoke about 'austerity hair'. Home colouring, supplemented with a quality haircut. Cut your hairdressing bill in half! Pardon the pun.

On my lunch I popped along to the Whistlestop Cafe. Dunfermline"s newest, funkiest and friendliest (and cheapest) cafe option. Forget the chill out behemoths of costa and starbucks. Get yersel to the Whistlestop for tea and scones. I took in a t-shirt I had printed, featuring the cafe logo alongside one of my drawings from a recent exhibition titled 'Disco Injuries'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBKMO_cOk2o  

HELLO

No camera this week, so no snaps. Was in Glasgow in the morning, so didn't start cutting hair until 2.30pm. I was kept going right through to 7pm.  Julie was my first client. She had a right old rant about shite shopping experiences, from sullen Primark assistant syndrome to her daughter's insistence they visit New Look every time they're in the town. More static electricity in there than a Van de Graaf generator!
Elaine was in for a trim. Part of her preparations for the forthcoming school ski trip to Canada, which is in turn a warm up (well, cold up) for a major school expedition to Borneo in the summer. I'll tell ye, eh? It wisnay like that it ma day. Ye were lucky if ye were allowed oot up the toon for Gala day, never mind South East Asia for a month. She was telling me her daughter Rosie is having kittens about her wardrobe for the Borneo trip. Her already exasperated mother completely gave up at the mention of a maxi dress as possible evening wear for the jungle.
Next up, Flo the joiner and his son, Jack. Jack is 5 and displaying all the same cheeky antics as my own son. Flo spoke about our recent ride in his pimped up works van. Yes, a rusty white bucket from the outside, but, as Cilla Black once sang, Step Inside Love and witness the business.. A sound system to rival any car boy's wet dream. We listened to the Prodigy that night with blood pouring from our ears as we trundled along the Hawbeath Road. Back to the salon, we agreed that the track currently playing in the room - Hudson Mohawke's Joy Fantastic - would sound the business rattling the interior of said scabby old van.
Long time client and fellow fives player Micheal Maloco was my last client of the day. He was speaking about his Estate Agents, Maloco and Associates, being nominated for Scottish Legal Awards Property Team of the Year. I asked if he planned a tearful, Paltrowesque acceptance speech upon winning the cup, or if he would go for a scathing verbal assault on his peers, a-la Gervais. Top Dunfermline house-haggler Maloco remained tight -lipped about his chances of success.
See ya.

FIRST DAY

First day, half a dozen clients. Perfect. Above, Cameron, handsome devil that he is, opted for a complete makeover. Gone is the one length hair lying on the shoulders(remember Hansen?), replaced with a heavily layered look with a Bieberesque fringe. I received a typically teenage cool response to his new look.

Cameron's twin sister Phoebe(above) had a trim and took control of the camera. She spoke about Kerrang magazine and her love for Simon Neil, peroxide blond sea-god lead singer of Biffy Clyro.

Oh dear! The camera never lies, they say. Bagpuss in clan Macdonald tartan scarf. Jesus.

The lovely Katie Strachan(above) popped by. One of Dunfermline's most stylish young women stopped for a cup of tea and a chat about her forthcoming holiday to ShagaMagaluf with her 11 pals. Carnage. We also spoke about the finer points of second-hand shopping, bemoaning the rise of the expensive vintage store. Nothing better than a top find in a pishy Sue Ryder shop. I once got a pair of Grenson leather-soled brogues for sick squid. Katie said she once found herself a YSL chiffon top for next to nothing.

Later in the day, Lorraine(below) came in for her first look at my wee room. Top bump! Baby due in under two weeks!!

Alison was in for a trim. She says she hates having photos taken, but I took one anyway. Alison is a gem of a person with three of the loveliest children ever. An absolute credit to her! She is also a very talented artist. I hope we can work together in the near future on the Abbeyview Artist Project.

Not one to let looking like bagpuss put me off, I thought I might take a snap of myself each Monday and discuss my choice of garments for the day's toil. Not visible in this snap are my brown leather Cheaney Chelsea boots, a gift from Lorraine, tweed suit trousers from Next, two second-hand jumpers, a tartan scarf and a pus like thunder.

monday 10 january

someone once said that success is the ability to go from one failure to another without loss of enthusiasm. welcome to my new venture. it is a formula I have explored before; a hair salon that doubles up as a space for artworks and the exchange of ideas. in 2002, I opened a small salon in Dunfermline, imaginatively titled, alan grieve. It quickly became a success as a hairdressers and played host to exhibitions of a selection of artists' work. The only difficulty was my inability to manage staff effectively, and led to my decision to jack it all in and head back to art school. fast forward to 2010. now in possession of academic qualifications and some new 'art friends', the time seemed right to set up a new venture, minus staff. based on the first floor of what can only be described as a tonsorial mall, my one man salon will be a continuation of recent efforts to combine art and trade. go to http://www.ninetrades.com/ and check out my stint as artist in residence at Nori Salon in Dundee. If you are interested in finding out more, pop by my salon and you can pick up a copy of 'Masters at Work', the magazine I produced as part of the project. My most recent effort as a hairdresser/artist was with the National Theatre of Scotland as part of their recent 99...100 Project, based in Fife. See below, part of Theatre boffin Joyce Macmillan's review of the storytelling extravaganza.

'If The Habit Of Art represents an outstanding example of how to focus a series of complex themes into a two-and-a-half-hour main-stage play, the National Theatre of Scotland's latest project is precisely the kind of diffuse event that defies focussed criticism and response. Developed over a period of seven months, with substantial co-sponsorship from Fife Council and Scottish Power, 99..100.. has been a huge community project, travelling across Fife in search of people's stories. It has involved a huge range of Fife-based artists, from Gregory Burke to the Fence Collective; and now, it comes to fruition in a massive show-cum-installation at Silverburn Park in Leven, featuring a theatre marquee, ten memorable installations in the dank and derelict Silverburn House, some spectacular landscape lighting, and a garden full of weird and wonderful artworks, ranging from hairdresser-turned-artist Alan Grieve's mobile hair salon – good for persuading people to open up about their lives – to a series of old-style telephone boxes playing recorded conversations with passing Fifers.' joyce macmillan, the scotsman.com 26/11/2010

please get in touch if you want to know more about this project, or any other hair/art questions you might have. you can leave a comment or email me at alan22grieve@hotmail.co.uk