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'Drive-by barbers' think it is funny to cut off men's top-knot man buns in South Africa

The acts were carried out and filmed by a 'comedy duo'

Lamiat Sabin
Friday 20 February 2015 12:23 EST
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A man gets his hair chopped off by a self-styled 'drive-by barber'
A man gets his hair chopped off by a self-styled 'drive-by barber'

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A bunch of hipsters were so enraged about top-knot hairstyles that they went round cutting them off men’s heads.

A “comedy duo” from South Africa called Nic and Gareth – also known as “Derick Watts & The Sunday Blues” – thought it would be funny to cruise around in a car looking for unsuspecting victims.

The top-knot, or small man bun, was popularised by athletes and sportsmen as well as movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Colin Farrell.

On sight of a man with a small bun, one of them runs up to him with a pair of sharp scissors while the get-away driver and cameraman remain in the car.

The group say top-knots are poor replicas of 'proper' man buns
The group say top-knots are poor replicas of 'proper' man buns (YouTube)

He approaches them as they are sitting at outdoor café and restaurant tables in Cape Town to cut off the hair, before running off yelping and screaming “stop the knot!”

Their antics received thousands of comments from viewers disagreeing with forcibly changing a person’s appearance if one didn’t agree with it. Some even said it was akin to assault.

Prior to their escapades, they use their friend in the backseat as an example of what they think the hairstyle should look like and say: “You get a man bun, then you get this thing [the top-knot].”

“It looks like an onion, an onion who is also a d***,” the bearded driver wearing a backwards baseball cap said.

Thousands of comments on YouTube said the acts were wrong
Thousands of comments on YouTube said the acts were wrong

While prowling for targets, he dryly asks a woman walking down the street: “Have you seen any top-knot hairstyles around here? You know, the one that looks like it wants to be a ponytail when it grows up?”

His self-styled “drive-by barber” ally, with a pointy handlebar moustache, creeps up behind people in broad daylight and snips off their hair – while filming it with a camera strapped to his forehead.

They then take the glass jar of stolen top-knots to the beach, where they empty it into the ocean with the small buns of hair still kept in place by the hair bands.

“This is too much,” says the barber. “I think I’ve aged like ten years in just one day.”

However, it might have been the acting wearing him out as there is, of course, the possibility that the video could have been staged.

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