CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT

John’s Hair, A local male grooming institution in the Flight Path District central business strip, actually hasn’t changed much since it set up shop in 1979.

Same lino floor, same chairs, and in some instances – the same ointments. But the most noticeable constant is John himself.

Judging by the three photos on the wall, which are unofficially time-stamped by the easily identifiable differences in photographic technology used for each, John has not aged a day since he got off the boat from Kithira.

Alongside an obscure non-Premiership-year membership poster for his beloved NRL club, the photos make up the only form of decoration on the gyprock wall of the 40-year-old barbershop.

Like many post-war Greeks still living in post-war Greek enclaves, John is always keen to tell any customer who will listen about how the yuppies moving into the area have ruined what was once a nice place to live.

It is also not lost on him that most of the people he complains about gentrification to too are actually the people responsible for it.

However, as the boxing gyms are gradually replaced by F45 franchises, and the milkbars become juice bars. Locals are questioning where John has found the money to afford the stem cell therapy that has allowed him to look exactly the same over four decades.

However, upon reaching the counter, customers are given a closer insight into John’s wealth-hoarding practices – as the hairdressing stalwart pretends he doesn’t know what ‘Eft-Pos’ means.