A barber from Málaga's Soho reveals the secrets of his trade

David Escobar, a barber from Soho, has been serving clients for 16 years who confess unusual stories: from a supposed alien to celebrities like Isco.

David Escobar, 38, has been running his barber shop St. Martin in Soho Málaga for twelve years, but his history with scissors goes back much further: he started helping his parents in their hair salon in Cómpeta as a teenager and then worked at places like El Corte Inglés before starting his own business.

Thousands of clients have passed through his hands, some regulars for 16 years. Many come with stories ranging from the endearing to the surreal, and David keeps them discreetly, although in a recent interview he revealed some of the most striking ones.

He recalls a client with heart problems who always paid for the haircut before sitting down, just in case. And another who, in the middle of the session, confessed to him that he was an alien:

“He told me if I had noticed he had a peculiar skull and I said yes… The thing is he replied that he was an alien because his grandmother slept with someone I don’t know… And that he was the grandson of an alien.”

The barber shop, he claims, is almost a confessional.

“In the end, you know many intimate things about the clients and, for example, when some of them die, it’s like a part of the barber shop’s history dies because we have a very personal relationship.”

His wife, Paloma, tells him that many don’t come just to get a haircut, but just to chat.

Among his clients, there have been well-known faces and also anonymous people.

“When I was at El Corte Inglés, many Málaga players came like Isco, Joaquín, Toulalan… Even cutting hair for people living on the street. My parents taught me that you don’t look at the client’s pocket, but you serve them the best you can.”

Not everything is haircuts: he has also received strange requests, like for an anal waxing, which he politely declined and referred to an aesthetics centre. And although his clients confess secrets to him, he also opens up:

“My real life is very simple, I have my wife, my kids, I go out on weekends to the beach or the countryside… It’s not the standard of living of many who come here to get their hair cut.”

David asserts that men are taking more care of themselves:

“Men have always been vain, but now they care more about their image.”

The most requested services include Italian essence shaving with exfoliation, rituals with hot towels, and highlights in grey hair. His clients come from all over the province, even from Mollina or Rute, and some risk fines from the Low Emission Zone to come to Soho.

For now, he doesn’t plan to move from the neighbourhood: he has bought a house in Ciudad Jardín and values life in Soho. His eldest son, Adrián, 14, wants to follow in his footsteps.

“I’ve told him to study something related to Marketing or Business Management to have that knowledge if one day we want to grow and expand the business.”

This summer he has already started helping in the barber shop and even shaved his father.