Armidale barber Roy Cowley has been around a long time.
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So long in fact, when Laura Elliott took her son Hamish to get his first haircut, the young boy became the fifth generation in his family to walk into Roy’s shop.
“We took our son Hamish to see Roy at his shop on Jessie Street yesterday for his first haircut,” Laura said on Friday.
Laura said it was pretty impressive that Roy had now cut five generations of hair for the Elliott family.
“He might be in his 80s now, but I can tell you he did a wonderful job cutting Hamish's hair,” Laura said. “Especially given the fact a one-year-old will not keep their head still!”
Mr Cowley has been operating out of the shop on Jessie St for more than 40 years, after starting his career as an apprentice in 1949, when he was just shy of 15-years-old.
In 2015, he spoke to the Express shortly before his 80th birthday, and reflected on 60 years, styling the hair of Armidale men, and the trends that had come and gone.
"We had to do all the styles the young fellas wanted," Mr Cowley said.
"The square cut came in by migration when a lot of Italian and Greek men had those cuts; before then it was tapered.
"There was also the sideburns situation.
"And then the Beatles became popular and everyone wanted their hair long.
"The Beatles were the enemy of the barbers.
"Mums and dads didn't like the styles, they didn't like the long hair, but then when the style changed and it became short again, they didn't like the short hair."