Hampton Park barber Paul Vogelaar has retired after 50 years in the industry. 77599 Picture: MEAGAN ROGERS
AFTER 50 years behind the barber’s chair, Paul Vogelaar has cut and run.
The popular Hampton Park stylist has hung up the scissors after half a century of haircuts, including 42 years in the local area.
Councillors Amanda Stapledon and Wayne Smith recently presented a certificate to Paul and wife Marie on behalf of the City of Casey, recognising their decades of service to the community.
Reflecting on his humble beginnings, Paul said that as soon as he was legally able, he was expected to leave school and help support the family.
“It’s a typical migrant thing, as soon as you’re 15 you’re out the door – not so much now, but in those days,” he said.
The Hampton Park resident said his interest in becoming a barber began when he helped his father with his small, family-owned hairdressing business in Ocean Grove.
“In 1961 he had build it up where he needed an apprentice so he said ‘you’ll do’… I didn’t really have much of a choice,” he said.
“When my mum and dad came out they had four kids already, they came out here with nothing because they had to leave everything behind.
“They only had one small box to put stuff in.
“You virtually had nothing. You were given pocket money even though you were working and that was it.”
Paul said even though hairdressing was a career he didn’t choose, over the years he grew to love it.
“Hairdressing has been good to me right through the 50 years, I have never been out of work,” he said.
He said hairdressing was his blue-print – the way he made his mark.
“You build a rapport with a lot of these people – you get to know them a bit,” he said.
“I have had some (customers) for 42 years.
“I have got five families where I have done four generations of hair.”
After two weeks of being retired Paul is already beginning to miss having the scissors in his hand.
“My wife gives me 18 months then she says ‘you’ll put the flag out again’,” he joked.
Now he has taken off the barber’s coat, Paul and Marie are looking at expanding their horizons well past Hampton Park.
“Both of us were born in Holland, we’ve been back once but we want to go back one more time,” he said.
Paul’s many activities include helping to run a soup kitchen and playing lawn bowls. He said he was going to miss the social aspect of being a barber more than anything.
“You get to know people, their families, and circumstances. That’s what I am going to miss,” he said.
