Hair Hunter | Dreadlocks and Hair Extensions

A skull greets Nils Jäger's visitors on the front door, the other rooms have been decorated with gigantic dildos, old lattice gates and whacky wooden furniture. Nils Jäger runs a very personal business from his apartment in Schöneberg. Customers that have heard of him through mouth-to-mouth propaganda come here to get extensions and dreadlocks made out of real hair.

Jäger, a trained hairdresser, plans to leave things as they are. He doesn't want to put any money into advertising: “I want my customer base to regulate itself naturally, the mix we have here right now is very exciting.” Jäger has arranged his barber chairs in a circle, not directly in front of a mirror, so customers can look at each other and even smoke while they get their hair done, which contributes to the lively conversations that are always erupting here.

It all started in the early 80's in the GDR, when Jäger was ten years old and watched a report about the punk and gothic scenes in London on West-tv. “They introduced a guy that glued hair onto people from the [punk and gothic] scenes. I was so impressed that I wanted to try it, too.” While his first attempts with carneval wigs and candle wax still looked ghastly, his interest in hair extensions never wavered. He experimented on himself and on friends and soon graduated to become somewhat of a master of his trade.

When Nils Jäger took a trip to London in 1992, he connected with hair extension professionals that gave him valuable tips and tricks. “You always just meet the people you need to meet,” says Jäger with a smile. Back in Berlin, he began to work at the Kaiserschnitt hair salon, completed an apprenticeship and began to work with extensions for a living. His first customers mainly flocked in from the oldest profession in the world, but word soon got around about Jäger's skills. Today, his client base consists of dancers, actors and regular Joes and Janes.

(simb)