It starts with a call from a private number, before a low husky voice asks, “Can I speak to the lady hairdresser?” Hairdressers and barbers around the country have dubbed it “the call” and it’s been going on for years. Barber Jodie Boland (pictured above) is one of those hairdressers who received a call. “Hello darling,” the caller began. The person introduced herself as Christine, saying she had two daughters who had been naughty and needed their heads shaved as punishment. The older daughter, with shoulder-length hair, would have a flat top, the caller said, and asked Boland how she would do it. Boland explained that she would use a number 2 blade, then a 1, and then a zero to fade. “Tease her a little bit, be stern with her,” the caller said. By this time, Boland was creeped out and concerned about whether the children were even real. Feeling obliged to make the appointment after what she estimated was 15 minutes on the call, Boland booked the daughters for the following Tuesday. She took the caller’s number for the appointment, but when she tried to call it back, it was out of service. Tuesday came and the caller and her daughters were a no-show. “I have never been so relieved,” said Boland. On a New Zealand professional hairdressers Facebook page, Boland discovered that hairdressers and barbers around the country have been getting the calls for years. “It might appear harmless or victimless, but I think it’s quite harmful,” said Nathan Gaunt, an Auckland based psychologist who specializes in dealing with people with deviant behavior. “It’s important that people shut the call down and not go along with it,” he said. Gaunt also encouraged hairdressers to report the calls to police.
