Read Adelle Stripe's account of soundscapes in her mother's hairdressing salon for The Quietus:
"Back in the 1980s, the sound of my mother’s hairdressing salon, Reflections, was one of real and fake sympathy, neighbourhood scandal, and the low hum of overhead dryers. It was in this place I learnt the art of eavesdropping, listening in on conversations as I swept up remnants of tumbleweed hair, serving hot refreshments to ladies awaiting attention, smoking Silk Cuts as their rollers were combed out. You’d hear all about the private lives and outrageous behaviour of the Mrs-next-doors, their tragic deaths, or gleeful gloating of those who thought they were something but had now lost everything.
Customers often visited the salon for ‘cul-de-sac’ cuts in the fashion of Princess Diana, but the older women were reminiscent of those who featured in Three Salons at the Seaside, wanting a shampoo and set once a week, with a stern backcomb and Elnett fix of their heavily-tinted hair. Their style icon at the time was Mrs Thatcher or the Queen, and they would dress in a similar way, with court shoes, American Tan tights and a knitted suit, complete with pearls and clip-on earrings for a special occasion..."