Haircut warning as UK men catch horror infection from barbers

A huge number of young men have been infected with ringworm from barbers. A barber has called for higher standards in the hair industry after seeing "loads of cases" of young men catching ringworm from haircuts.

Mike Taylor runs a barbering training academy in Poole, Dorset, and wants the Labour Party government to take the currently unregulated profession more seriously. He said customers had been coming to him with skin infections as "cheap, dirty unqualified barbershops are littering the high streets".

The government said it had "no plans to regulate the hairdressing sector". Mike said: "I'd say 70% to 80% of clients coming in ask for skin fades. To get that effect you've got to use the foil clipper, but the problem is it takes in hair and it needs to be thoroughly cleaned."

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Christian Reynolds, 22, from Bournemouth, got an infection after getting a skin fade at his local barber. "Almost immediately after I came out and met up with my partner she noticed this abrasion and raised mark at the back of my neck," he said.

He described it as "itchy" and "irritable" and after speaking with his pharmacy he found out that it was ringworm. "I felt annoyed because after doing research on it I realised it was due to improper practice and not cleaning equipment properly," Mr Reynolds said.

He added that he felt "let down" by the barbershop. "You shouldn't have to worry about sanitary stuff but it's quite a big factor in where I get my haircut," he said. Mr Taylor said: "The high street is depleting, it's dying and then suddenly there's 12 barber shops on the same street and they're all trying to go a little bit cheaper than each other."

"If the prices have to be knocked down then something else has to go and maybe it is all the time spent cleaning the equipment or the time spent getting the proper knowledge."