La Barberia

In the location's words:

A real man's shed

Admittedly, our editors were unable to test La Barberia on their own hair. But they were able to follow up on the numerous tips from satisfied customers, who, by the way, are all male. La Barberia is a real barber store. Here, hair and beards are trimmed according to classic craftsmanship, trimmed and brought into shape with pomade. All this while leaning back in almost historic barber chairs - such as the snazzy Theo Koch chair, which began its history in the early 20th century on a ship from Cuxhaven to South America and eventually made it back to Bergkamen and now to Hohe Straße in Dortmund. The chair is just one of many carefully selected pieces that make the Barber Shop special. On the moss-green painted walls, we discover numerous pictures of beard and Schnubbi wearers. "Our grandpas hang over there, too," Thorben, owner of La Barberia, tells us. In the pictures we see classic beard wearers like from the picture book, just as they looked in the 1920s or 1930s. "They just had to move in here," adds the trained master barber, laughing.

Things are cheerfully relaxed here, we quickly notice. Alana and Miguel are part of the team. While Thorben and Miguel wield scissors and razors, Alana makes sure that everything runs smoothly. From early in the afternoon, it's actually always a full house here. "During the week, we only work on appointment," explains Alana, "there's no rushing around here. The customer always buys La Barberia time, too." The team puts a lot of heart and soul into their young business, which Thorben and Alana, who incidentally also otherwise go through life together as a couple, opened in the summer of 2017. The care products used are carefully selected, are vegan and free of animal testing. Of course, men can also lounge in the stylish leather furniture before the appointment and enjoy a beer, a whiskey or gin. Of course, there's also plenty of music for the ears, the Stones, the Beatles or modern beats, sometimes relaxed, sometimes a little louder.

La Barberia is not a hairdresser for girls, but for real guys. And these are pupils, students, craftsmen, businessmen. "How old and where from doesn't matter, whoever comes to us is part of it," says Thorben. "It's kind of quite fascinating. No matter what social fabric our clientele comes from, at La Barberia they become a blow man, enjoy the company and even strike up a conversation." Sounds pretty darn good to us!