Let A Maestro Cut Your Hair

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Enny Buono of Cesellato at work

Something for the weekend?

Enny Buono came to Dublin in 2013 from Naples, Italy.

He set up Cesellato on Wexford Street, Dublin 2.

It is now regarded by many as one of the best barbers in the country.

Which is no surprise.

Because, as Enny writes:

I come from a family of roughly 40 barbers and hairdressers, spanning four generations.

My father, Ciro Buono, continued the trade after my granddad’s passing, opening his own shop 48 years ago, which is still open to this day.

After school my sisters and I would go to the shop and wait until closing time to go home. This time spent in the shop is where we learned one very important thing; The Client is King.

I started to get involved in the shop, sweeping the floors, shampooing, leathering shave, changing cut throat blades and getting to know the clients.

At the age of just 8, I started working on giving shaves for the first time. I finished compulsory school at 12 and began working full time straight away.

At 13, I went to the Hair Academy to become a Master Barber and then a Teacher, which took 7 years to complete. At the time, I was the youngest one, the others in my class were all over 30..

Last week, Enny contacted us to offer two male Broadsheet readers the full Cesellato treatment – a wash and cut and hot towel shave – for free in a grooming giveaway.

We tried to explain that we usually do music vouchers and whatnot and not haircuts but Enny charmingly persisted Napoli-style. No freebies, shaves or hot towels were given for this post.

To enter, all Enny wants to know is your worst barber experience?

Lines MUST close at 3.30pm EXTENDED until 5.30pm 10.45pm EXTENDED unitill 9am Friday.

Cesellato

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24 thoughts on “Let A Maestro Cut Your Hair

  1. Doug

    In a bit of a mood, I sat down on the barber’s chair.
    Barber:(welcoming) “Do you want a haircut?”
    Me: (sarcastically- annoyed at the obvious question) , “No, I came here just to hear the latest barber jokes”
    Barber:(buzz cutting diagonally across the top of my head) “Well, did you hear the one about the cross eyed barber?”

  2. Peed Off Irish

    Many moons ago I was going to my cousins wedding. I was 20 at the time and got my hair bleached and my eyebrows dyed brown. Both turned out to be a disaster and I looked like a freak. My younger sister kept telling people at the wedding as if they couldn’t notice! Thankfully that was a long time ago and needless to say a 1 off life experience.

  3. Johnny C

    A few years ago (my kids were all under 3 so wasn’t getting my quota of sleep) I went to get my hair cut. I was looking forward to the peace and quiet, hoping the barber wouldn’t make small talk with me, and just enjoy the silence. Anyways, apparently half-way through the haircut I fell fast asleep. The barber pushed the chair (was on wheels!) across the room to the corner and left me in peace. I woke up maybe 30mins later to a cheer in the barbers. I got the rest of my hair cut and left feeling relaxed and fully recuperated.

    1. theo kretschmar schuldorff

      I want free tickets to go to Johnny C’s barber!!
      What do I have to do again? Oh yea..
      A few year ago, when I was dead (and Samuel Barber), a chap called William Orbit did a trance cover of my Opus 11. Well, I started spinning around, and would have become violently ill were it not for the good fortune of my having already being deceased.

  4. Steve

    An apparently newly trained barber got the blade sizes wrong. Put a zero instead of a 4 onto the clippers.
    Went to 5th year in secondary school with a big old chunk of hair missing out of the front of my head.
    It grew out to unnoticeable length after a month. 16 years later, I still fear they will get it wrong.

  5. V

    Not being allowed enter this competition

    hows that for the worst barber experience

    Nonetheless
    Good luck to Enny
    And all the lads entering
    I’ve no doubt some of ye could do with a good wash and a shave

  6. $hifty

    Seemed like a disaster at the time, but turned out to be a great story:

    There’s an Asian lad with his own barbers in Fairview, just beside the Hyundai garage there at the metal footbridge. His shop just says “Wonderful” on the signage, so I was a bit apprehensive going in.

    So, first time I ever went in, he was full of chat. Turns out he’s a lovely bloke, not the usual barber crap that you hear, he was genuinely very interesting and interested in me and my plans for the weekend. Then, about halfway through shaving my back & sides, he dropped the trimmer and LEGGED IT OUT THE DOOR without saying a word. He disappeared, completely, and left me on my own in the chair, with nobody else in the shop. I felt like Mr Bean or something: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iewulE0ZLY

    Anyway, I was left feeling like a plum for maybe 5-6 minutes…..which felt like an eternity. I even weighed up the option of going somewhere else and getting it finished by a ‘real’ barber. Suddenly, he comes rushing back into the shop with a huge grin on his face, apologising profusely. Turns out, the parking outside is pay & display. All the local business owners are in talks with the council about getting permits so they don’t have to pay, as it’s a bit much to be expected to fork out by the hour, so none of them actually do it. Including your man in the Hyundai garage, who has 10-15 cars outside at any given moment. Whenever the clampers call around they all rush out to the meter to pay for an hour or two.

    Last time the clampers were around, the garage fella hogged the machine, buying a ticket for each one. He wouldn’t let the others in ahead of him to buy one ticket each, and they all got fined. Mr Wonderful spotted the clampers first this time around, and legged it out to beat him to the machine. He then proceeded to pay for parking for all the other business owners, while the garage fella went ballistic standing behind him. He distributed the tickets and came back to finish my haircut. I was in stitches the whole time he was telling me this.

    As I tipped him and left, I bumped into the garage fella remonstrating with the parking enforcement lad as the latter was dishing out fines.

    Karma is a bitch.

  7. fez

    I once walked out of a well known reputable barbers that had forgotten to level out my locks, leaving me to go home with one sideburn

  8. RuilleBuille

    I visited my usual barber and asked for a haircut like Tom Cruise.

    He put me sitting on a cushion!

  9. Mick

    As a teenager in the 80s I was a bit spotty, and obviously very conscious of it.

    I went to get my hair cut in my regular barbers one day, and there was a new fella there, a son of the owner, in his early 20s. As he was cutting my hair, near the end he was trimming the back of my neck and had to pull the collar of my shirt to get at all the hair there. While doing it, he obviously had to look down the back of my shirt and said in full voice: “God, you’ve got lots of spots on your back, haven’t you?”
    I never went back, and grew my hair long for about 5 years after that.

  10. Boj

    “Trim your eyebrows?” is a line which sends shudders down my follicles. I was preparing for an all out assault for a first date a few years back. New clothes, then into barbers to get the head of knots tidied, shaved the neck, hot towels, lovely. Then that dreaded line…
    I casually replied “sure”.
    Electric razor comes out, blade goes onto razor.
    Barber gets distracted and blade falls off the razor…I sat watching…hoping that the barber saw the fumble.
    He did not…and before I could scream….zzzzzzz….across the left eyebrow. I went to that date with a helluva story and a unique look. I still chuckle when that line comes out to this very day.

  11. Wozza

    About a month ago I went into the barbers in Clarehall and asked for the usual, 3 all around and 4 on the top.

    The barber nodded but then proceeded to cut my hair exactly like his own, right down to getting a blade to shape the hair at the back of my head into a sharp V and squaring off the hair around my ears so I looked like I had Lego hair. He also gave me a banjaxed fade that was more like a cliff edge, that I’d no more asked for but he obviously was a mega fan of.

  12. scottser

    nothing distressing at the time of the haircut itself, but i went to a place in dun laoghaire and yer man scalped me way too short. i went back to the office and yer wan who sits next to me just took one look and went ‘you didn’t pay for that, did you?’ that haircut did me for 5 months.

    1. f_lawless

      I remember as a young enough lad around the late 80s, once going to a certain barbers in Dun Laoghaire . I arrived just before the close of business having run up the hill from the DART station. But my relief at making it in time turned to slight unease as the barber let the only other customer out the door, locked the door and put up the ‘closed’ sign. Already having heard stories that he had a ‘certain eye for the lads’, the unease began to increase steadily as I felt he was standing unnecessarily close while cutting my hair, at times pressing up against me. i dunno, maybe that’s just what barbers do when cutting hair and I was being paranoid but I do have a clear memory of him saying to me “Did anyone ever tell you you had beautiful eyes?” as I handed him the cash for services rendered. I think it was shortly after I purchased my first buzz cut razor and never looked back.

  13. SB

    Back when I was younger and poorer, I could only afford a “dry cut”. I’d wait and wait for a day when it was bucketing down before going to get my hair cut, purposely trudging slowly through the rain to make sure my hair was soaking wet by the time I got there. That’s how cheap I was.

  14. Jibjob

    I went to a different barbers from my usual. He was getting on a bit and was completely bald. That was not his fault of course, but he seemed to take revenge on me having a full head of hair by using some of the bluntest scissors I have ever encountered. He did not so much cut my hair as use the scissors to pull my hair out, strand by strand!

    With hindsight I was far too polite, as I didn’t complain, but I silently vowed never to return.

  15. Johnny

    I was at a wedding in southern Italy (Campania) had gone for a trim in a well known chain of barbers in Dublin before leaving g and had received a cut that was a bit of a hames.
    Popped into a barbers in the local town to see if he could rescue it…
    He did an epic job using a cutthroat razor on twists of hair, unbelievable stuff,
    He refused point blank to take payment…

  16. Yarfakdu

    In Florida when I was twelve with a mop of black hair (American airport security officer mentioned my likeness to 1996 michael Jackson) I was brought for a haircut, off a military base. An elderly Italian woman who clearly had no English assessed my head, I suggested a long on top curtains and shorter on the sides do’. She swiftly brought out a blade zero and scalped me all over. The hotel we were staying in hosted the miss teen USA pageant, in the lift after the haircut one of the contestants wished me luck on the recovery. My father noticed an opportunity. One hard sell time share conference later we had our tickets to Disneyland. Oversized Orlando magic cap placed on my pasty newly bald skull and we got to the top of every q. Job done.

  17. Tracey Mahady

    Not mine my poor hubby, using a razor didn’t realise there was no blade fit until I shaved a big line up the back of his head! Oops, needless to say I haven’t shaved his hair since!!

  18. Gokkers

    Dont got to barbers, they’re too fond of clippers, go to old lady salons and ask if they can use a scissors only…cheapest and best haircut you’ll get….least they actually listen to what you want.

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