The practice of giving a quality haircut using advanced scissor techniques, straight razors, and additional services such as hot towel shaves and flame detailing to remove fine hairs has been a long-standing custom that originated in the Ottoman Empire.
However, hair professionals who have undergone extensive training to master these skills are now facing challenges as they find themselves being edged out of the market by competitors who are capitalizing on the ‘Turkish barber’ label without possessing adequate training.
Authorities have issued warnings about criminal elements entering the industry by establishing barbershops as legitimate businesses to disguise and legitimize money obtained from illegal activities like drug trafficking.
Mob violence spilled onto the streets of one quiet Welsh neighbourhood this year where six Kurdish barbers operate. And this week, enforcement teams across the West Midlands raided a string of Turkish barber shops and seized more than £500,000 in illegal cash during a crackdown on money laundering.
Evidence that many outlets selling themselves as Turkish barbers are not meeting the tradition’s high standards is plentiful on TikTok, with users frequently sharing videos of their wonky haircuts and patchy skin fades.
MailOnline spoke to barbers who warned businesses will market themselves as ‘Turkish’ to attract clients – but they might be from Iraq, Iran, Syria or Bulgaria. Real barbers say the tell-tale signs of an illicit business will be in the quality of the service.
Now the true artisans are fighting back – and insisting it’s time to hold back the flood of downmarket rivals flooding towns and cities across Britain.
Selcuk Dokuzluoglu, who runs a Turkish barber in South Shields near Newcastle, was taught how to cut hair by his father and grandfather in Turkey before he went on to cut the hair of a Saudi Arabian prince in the UAE.
He then came to England to open his shop but says more and more are appearing because businessmen think they’re a quick way to make cash.
Evidence that many outlets selling themselves as Turkish barbers are not meeting the tradition’s high standards is plentiful on TikTok
Users are frequently sharing videos of their wonky haircuts and patchy skin fades
Police have warned of criminals infiltrating the industry by setting up barber shops as front companies
A West Mercia Police officer speaks to a man inside one of the raided Turkish barbers in the Midlands this week
The 38-year-old, who owns Royal Turkish Barber, said: ‘It is all about these places trying to make as much money as they can. In this country there is competition to make more money but often the barbers are not trained properly.
‘Barber shops don’t make as much money as they used to and lots of these shops open but then sit empty.
‘I first learned how to be a barber from my grandfather and my father and then I went to Saudi Arabia. I then came to England but over here people don’t train as much.’
Mr Dokuzluoglu warned that it was easy to spot a barber that was not up to the job by the quality of their haircuts.
‘There is a certain style of cutting hair in Turkey and in Saudi Arabia but over here there is no style at some Turkish barbers,’ he said.
‘They can be very fast here and will be done in five minutes. Then clients will leave to go somewhere else and the shops wonder why they get so quiet.’
More than 750 barbers opened in the UK last year despite a broader High Street downturn – raising suspicions that some are being used by gangs.
South Shields is home to around eight Turkish-style barbers in a two mile radius, some of which stand mere metres away from each other. Two others claim to be Kurdish.
Muhammed Saleh works for Mr Dokuzluoglu and is currently learning his trade.
Selcuk Dokuzluoglu, who runs a Turkish barber in South Shields, shows a Google Maps still showing all the other shops claiming to be Turkish barbers in the area
Ihesh Ghafor works at Morfose Turkish barbers and admits its hard to compete with all the rival outlets
South Shields is home to around eight Turkish-style barbers in a two mile radius. There is no suggestion any of those pictured are illegitimate
Barber Hewa Rahimpur, 30, was the lynchpin of a vast cross-Channel people smuggling operation
He is seen here being arrested by NCA officers in East London. He was later extradited to Belgium to face trial
The 35-year-old said: ‘Often the Turkish barbers aren’t actually Turkish. They say they are Turkish to attract clients but they might be from Iraq or Iran or Syria.
‘If the owners are Turkish then the staff most likely will be, but if not, they could be from anywhere. Some staff are even from Europe such as Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.
‘But Turkish barbers give a different type of service. The quality of the product is good. It’s the same as a good Italian restaurant.’
Ihesh Ghafor works at Morfose Traditional Turkish Barbers, which is on a busy row of shops.
But the 22-year-old admits it’s now hard to compete with so many other similar salons.
‘There are a lot of shops popping up now,’ he added. ‘We are quite quiet at the moment and maybe that is because so many are opening.
‘Maybe they think it’s an easy job to have and the hours are quite nice to work. I think it could get to the point where there are too many.’
Six Kurdish barbers shops are now operating in the neighbouring towns of Blackwood and Newbridge in the South Wales valleys and the competition is cut-throat.
A brawl erupted earlier this year in the South Wales town of Blackwood over a barber that was set to open in the nearby town of Newbridge
It led to mob violence two months ago leaving several Kurds behind bars awaiting trial.
Magistrates heard an argument was sparked about a new Turkish barbers’ shop opening in the neighbouring town of Newbridge.
There have also been reports of one Kurdish barber putting in the windows of a rival as competition for customers hots up.
Businessman Talid Karim Abdullah, 47, keeps out of it, opting to spend his time on nurturing a stream of regular customers who stay faithful to him.
Of the six Kurdish barbers visited by MailOnline, he was the only owner to be on the premises and willing to speak. At the others we were told: ‘The boss isn’t here’.
Mr Abdullah, owner of Style in Blackwood, said: ‘There are too many here for a small town like Blackwood. I’ve been here for five years and it could mean I have to close down.
‘I have six chairs but only three get used now, it’s a worry.’
Mr Abdullah complained he is paying a crippling £438 a month business rates for his barber’s shop which he has taken up with Caerphilly County Borough Council.
He said: ‘I wanted them to understand that it is difficult to trade when there are three other barbers so close to me but they said they can’t help.
Marmaris is a Kurdish barbers in the town of Blackwood. The owner did not want to give his name but said he was friends with the other barbers in town
Further down High Street is Mo’s where a ‘Full Service’ of haircut, beard trim, hot towel shave, nose wax, and eyebrows and ear trim costs £35
‘Barbers set up in towns because it’s so easy, you don’t need a license or anything to say the staff are fully trained.’
Mr Abdullah has a good reputation with locals and even lets a lonely pensioner come in to keep warm every day and give him free coffee.
Regular customer, father-of-three Darren Davies, 52, said: ‘I come in every fortnight – it’s the only one I use.
‘I have tried the others but they are a bit boyish, always begging themselves up. I was in the street when all the trouble kicked off a few weeks ago.
‘You don’t get that here, there is a general kindness to the public. It would be a shame if they were put out of business by the others.’
Across the road there are no customers in Blackwood Barbers, another Kurdish-run salon where the boss is not due in ‘until next Monday’.
The shop front has pictures of newly-styled male models along with photographs of well-groomed Hollywood stars George Clooney and Pierce Brosnan.
Further down High Street is Mo’s where a ‘Full Service’ of haircut, beard trim, hot towel shave, nose wax, and eyebrows and ear trim costs £35.
Blackwood Barbers has pictures of newly-styled male models along with photographs of well-groomed Hollywood stars George Clooney and Pierce Brosnan
Barber Omed Pirot, 30, said: ‘We were the first in Blackwood, we’ve been here nine years, everyone knows us.
‘There are four barbers working here, it’s quiet in the week but gets busier at weekends.
‘Lots of Kurdish barbers were set up in the country during lockdown. It is a job for unskilled labour like taxi driving and car washes.
‘You watch a barber at work for four or five months and then start doing it yourself. It’s not difficult. Six months after that you can be a good barber.’
Mr Pirot said he was aware that Kurdish barbers have a reputation for money laundering but he said Mo’s is a legitimate business. ‘We take bank cards as well,’ he added.
Further down Blackwood’s High Street and yards from a huge mural of local heroes the Manic Street Preachers is Marmaris – a Kurdish barbers named after the holiday resort in Turkey.
The 26-year-old owner, who didn’t want to be named, said: ‘There are four Kurdish barbers in the town, we all know each other, we are friends.
Darren Davies, a customer of 86 Style barbers in Blackwood Town Centre, said he enjoyed frequenting the shop
‘We won’t put each other out of business, we have our regular customers – we have no issues.’
Three miles away in Newbridge, one Kurdish barber – who gave his name as John John, 26 – saying: ‘This is my business not your business.’
He later said it wasn’t actually his business and the owner was not available.
Meanwhile, one British-born hairdresser in the South Wales Valleys said he believed some of the Kurdish salons were fronts for money-laundering.
The man, 34, refused to be named for fear of retribution, said: ‘They won’t put themselves out of business because it’s all about cleaning money.
‘I know Nigel Farage has been very vocal about it and he’s got it right.
‘The way it works is that one of them will be qualified which allows them to get insurance. They then empty four of five barbers who have no training at all.
‘I often get customers asking me to sort their haircuts out after they’ve been to one of the Kurdish salons.’
It comes after police revealed they had raided a string of Turkish barber shops and seized more than £500,000 in illegal cash during a crackdown on money laundering.
Bodycam footage shows officers smashing their way into the businesses, which are increasingly used as fronts by criminal gangs.
They seized more than £500,000 in dirty cash and arrested seven people after swooping on 33 premises last month.
The raids were carried out by West Mercia Police, together with Trading Standards West Midlands Fire and Rescue, Immigration Enforcement and HMRC.
They formed part of Operation Machinize – a crackdown on gangs using barber shops for fraud, money laundering and selling illicit goods.
More than over £6million in criminal assets have been seized in the year it has been underway.
It coincides with a broader crackdown by the National Crime Agency, which has overseen dozens of raids in recent months.
