NEW LIFE: JAMES COUGHLAN: PAINTER-DECORATOR turned BARBER: James Coughlan found his decorating skills helped him to pursue a career in hairdressing, writes ÉIBHIR MULQUEEN
HAIRDRESSING IS a form of decorating, so the transition for James Coughlan from painter/decorator to barber was not too difficult. He finished top of his class when he signed up for a course at a Dublin-based hairdressing school where he learned classic barbers’ skills such as doing hot towel shaves.
Nevertheless, the move was a huge gamble, coming a year after the sudden death of his partner and following the collapse of his business. Returning from Dublin to the west Clare town of Kilrush in November, he set about opening up his new venture.
He used his old skills to turn the leased premises around in a week from a bare room to the comforting, male atmosphere of a traditional barber's, complete with imposing posters of Marlon Brando from The Godfather.
He decided to turn his hand to the profession after seeing his own business disappear as the construction slump set in. “The only thing I knew was construction but when construction was affected everything within it was dying a death.
“At the start of 2008 things started to get a lot quieter. Work seemed to be plentiful but it was just harder and harder for the money to come in. People were slow to pay. The people in front of them were slow to pay then too. It was a knock-on effect. People like myself who were sub-contracting were at the end of that.”
He describes coming upon a TV programme, Surviving the Recession, featuring the idea in the small hours of the morning. "My sleep pattern was disorientated and I found myself up at four o'clock in the morning watching a repeat of this programme.
“It was talking about guys who came from construction and people from all walks of life who had changed their lives.”
The programme recommended a Dublin-based hairdressing school and Coughlan used the last of his savings to enrol and pay for accommodation in the city while doing the course.
“I decided to take what was left and re-educate myself because I did not want to find myself sitting at home and every cent of savings gone.”
He found it relatively easy to pick up the new trade. “For barbering and hairdressing, you have to have an eye for detail,” he points out, skills that he had already developed doing gilding and gold leafing work.
He also appreciated the experience of being a poor student counting the pennies. “The days of tipping the American way were gone. I was gone down to the bread-and-butter line. For the first time in my life I waited for two cent or five cent change back out of something.
“I finished school at 12 years of age and I never had the opportunity to be a student. I loved being a student, I loved the lifestyle,” he says.
Barber Street opened two months before his 40th birthday and in time for the Christmas trade. He is now testing the proposition that it is a recession-proof business.
“It seems to have good reviews. I’ve had the sons and I have had the fathers and I have had the uncles. There seems to be a good rapport about it. People love the classic, hot towel shaves.”
The untimely death of his partner coincided with the decline in his fortunes in 2008. Veronica Moran, a diabetic, had a heart attack at the age of 38. Two days later she died, leaving James and their son, Christopher, grief stricken.
“The next two months, between February and April, was a pure daze. It was like I just floated through. I had wonderful neighbours. They brought in food continuously. They were a fabulous help. People often sat with me until two or three o’clock in the morning.”
Debts were piling up and he hit a financial low when his two vehicles were repossessed by a bank. “I had funeral expenses and mortgage expenses and Christopher’s college still had to be continued.
“Work was falling behind. The next thing I found that there was three guys turned up at the door and said I had missed a few payments.”
Coughlan is a believer in promoting the social aspect of his new business, convinced that it is an important part of its appeal.
“When somebody sits in the chair, they tell you more about their lives than they would tell anybody else. You have great conversations and it changes every 15 minutes.
“It’s somewhere to go, relax and chat. As the saying goes, ‘If you stay long enough in a barber’s you’ll eventually get a haircut’.”
