New trend in hairdressers: “Silent cutting gives a feeling of meditation”

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Holidays, hobbies, work: These are the things I usually discuss when I go to the hairdresser. Typical small talk topics. But not today. I sit in a very comfortable chair and keep myself quiet. Esra Kaymak, the salon manager who cuts my hair, also remains silent. The silence is broken only by the sound of scissors and the tram passing outside.

Since June, cuts called Silent Cuts have been offered at the Drycut salon on Zurich Limmatplatz, as well as at the ZH locations in Bern and Winterthur. Appointments where you can stay calm. On the website you can select: “After consultation and discussion regarding the outage, today I like to enjoy my outage in peace and avoid small talk.”

Managing director Stefan Keller says the offer has been well received. And he makes it clear: “We don’t want to create distance between people, instead we want to respond to our customers’ needs.” Approximately one in ten people already get a haircut without making small talk.

Distributed abroad

This trend is relatively new in this country; In the UK, the Bauhaus halls in Cardiff have had fans since 2015, when they introduced the Quiet Chair concept. The offer is also popular in Germany. It all started with Berlin salons, but now there are hairdressers all over the country that rely on silence and cutting.

When I see the offer, I’m considering dropping the silence out of politeness – even though I’d really like it. Esra Kaymak says that there are always customers who do not prefer the quiet seat after the work is done and take out their mobile phones during the appointment. “To me, that’s a sign that you don’t want to make small talk.” It is their job to detect such signals. He also interprets closed eyes or monosyllabic answers this way.

But the opposite also happens: Clients who choose the silent segment start chatting during the appointment.

Isn’t speaking also part of your professional profile? “It’s not absolutely necessary,” says Kaymak. “But of course you can’t be completely introverted.” Regular customers especially enjoy chatting with him. Then it’s usually about very specific things like relationships or children. “Then they say Silent Cut is not for them,” says the hairdresser. The 10 percent of supporters are completely mixed: everyone from students to businessmen is there.

Small talk appeared

Digital Detox, Slow Living: There is a general trend towards calmer, “less is more” communication. The Silent Cut phenomenon fits this very well, says linguist Juliane Schröter of the University of Geneva. He suspects that it is mainly thanks to mobile phones that today we chat less but have more practice in writing “small print”. “We often text each other instead of talking to keep in touch.”

Small talk has an unfairly bad reputation. “It seems trivial, but it is not pointless,” says the linguist. Non-binding chat is suitable for meeting new people or maintaining casual relationships. Like at the hairdresser.

Call Bernadette Ottiger. He has also been offering silent cuts at his salon Beni’s Barber in Ruswil LU since it opened in 2019. “I know a lot of people don’t like small talk,” she says. Mothers and businessmen who deal with many things in daily life often use this option. “They are happy when they can take time for themselves and be quiet without feeling guilty.”

Ottiger’s salon occasionally holds silent sales; It is not possible to determine how common it is, but it is generally more common in men and people under the age of 50. Although the offer was little used, Ottiger received a lot of positive feedback.

The hairdresser also sees the benefit of cutting hair silently: “Talking all day can be tiring.” He is also in favor of this because the proposal means that breaks in conversations will no longer be perceived as distracting. Esra Kaymak confirms that talking too much can be tiring: “For me, Silent Cut is a bit like meditation.” It focuses entirely on organizing without having to think about conversation topics.

But he doesn’t want to stay silent all day. Kaymak: «I like to talk. Especially to meet new customers.” The topics he tries to avoid are politics and religion: “You have to be careful.”

My date has nothing to do with politics, religion or trivialities. I like to turn off my head and let my thoughts in. But I don’t want to give up small talk completely. Depending on my need to speak, I will choose to cut it silently or leave it alone.

Sometimes it can be fun to chat about holidays, hobbies, or your job.

Source : Blick