In 1968 he started his own salon at the former Soesterberg airbase. “Then at once forty American soldiers came in who had to be cut and then you learn the trade.” But the hardest thing about this job is the small talk you make with people, because according to Hans you can’t learn that. “That just has to be in you. I’m sensitive and I empathize. And not every customer wants to chat, but then I do,” he says with a laugh.
Village hairdresser Hans is Maartensdijker of the Year: ‘Cutting is an afterthought, it’s about the people’
