If you think the above video is the first time you’ve ever seen an Italian guy get his hair trimmed with fire, you’re wrong. (Or you’ve never seen Home Alone.)
Franco Bompieri, of Milan’s Antica Barbieria Colla, has different motivations than stopping home invaders, though.
The Italian barber likes to use a candle to preserve keratin (“bruciatura della punta dei capelli con candela per conservare la cheratina”), a trick that the 82-year-old believes makes hair fuller and stops it from falling out.
Bompieri — who arrived in Milan at the age of 15 with 5,000 lira in his pocket — admits that the tactic might be a little outdated, but that hasn’t compelled him to discontinue it.
“Like a farmer knows how to cultivate the earth, a tailor knows fabric, once upon a time … this was really important,” he says. “Now it’s really different.”
We don’t say this often, Mr. Bompieri, but you can burn our hair anytime.
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