At 85, Daniel Lecompte still has around a hundred clients. Hairdresser in Le Havre (Seine-Maritime), he does not plan to stop his passion: “My job is love”.
Posted on Sep 26, 20 at 4:22 p.m.
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At 85 years old, Daniel Lecompte works as a hairdresser at Havre (Seine-Maritime) with the same passion as on the first day, “when I started my apprenticeship with my father…” He was then 15 years old. Meeting with the man with the scissors who plague against razor cuts, while working in a living room transformed into a museum.
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“The bezot of the family”
It is 9:30 am. Daniel Lecompte opens the door to the Salon des navigateurs, located rue du Petit-Croissant, in the Saint-François district. He sets up a few lounge chairs in front of the door and welcomes the first customer of the day, Jean-François. The latter has his habits:
I discovered Daniel’s living room, I was 20 by chance, while going for a drink in the neighborhood with some friends. I love the place and then Daniel too …
The client sits on the armchair dating from the 1950s. Red pompom, navy blue uniform of the Royal, Daniel takes care to cover Jean-François’ neck. Scissors and comb in hand, he performs the cut, recounting his beginnings.
Daniel learned his trade from his father who passed on his passion to his four children. pic.twitter.com/yERU9dSK3p
– Bouchard Murielle (@ mubouchard14) September 22, 2020
The profession of hairdresser, Daniel learned it from his father. “He taught me everything like his three other children. I’m a Sanvic guy. My father had his living room there. When I was 11 years old, when I was the family bézot, I started to help him. At 15, I did my apprenticeship in the living room he had installed at the back of the garden of the family pavilion. “
He opened his salon in the Saint-François district “in 1960, I was 25 years old. »His clientele then:« mainly sailors, I had them combed on the boats which arrived at the #Havre. » pic.twitter.com/UQLgFX4VlX
– Bouchard Murielle (@ mubouchard14) September 22, 2020
The sailor hairdresser
Because his father encouraged him to stand on his own feet, the “bezot” will reach out to his own customers. “I first embarked as a hairdresser for the crew of the Charles-Tellier. »Then having met his wife, the young man of 20 will become the favorite hairdresser of sailors.
I then decided to settle in the Saint-François district, the sailors’ and Bretons district… It was hot, you know at the time. There was competition, there were six hairdressers! explains Daniel.
A living room transformed into a museum
Marine and hairdressing… Daniel’s two passions. Impossible for him not to share them with his customers. “That’s why I made my salon a hairdressing museum and the name is still the Salon des navigateurs. “Dryers from the 1920s, navigator’s charts, and other utensils that these travelers brought back between two cuts:” Gifts that I can never part with, “maintains Daniel.
Dryers date from the 1920s, scissors, razors … The living room is a real museum to discover. pic.twitter.com/65H0ahCpdf
– Bouchard Murielle (@ mubouchard14) September 22, 2020
In this more than unusual place, a hundred customers still call on the expert hands of Daniel. And on the show’s guestbook, words from all over the world left here and there by intrigued tourists who have crossed the doorstep.
At 85 years old “and a half”, Daniel does not intend to hang up the scissors: “My job is love. Stopping is an insurmountable barrier for me. “And as regards its salon-museum,” I will make a bequest to the City of Le Havre. My only wish is that everything remains as it is ”.
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