Hair day is one of the busiest days of the week in aged care. In all my years on the floor, the salon chair has been where the best stories come out. Ask about hairdressers and barbers and you will hear about the barber who handed out lollies, Mum doing pin curls on a Saturday night, the stink of a home perm through the whole house, and the beehive that took an hour and a whole can of hairspray.
This Hairdresser and Barber Shop Quiz for Seniors has 27 multiple-choice questions in four rounds: a USA & Canada Round, a British Round, an Australia & New Zealand Round, and a short Everyone Remembers round that suits any group. It is a cheerful barber shop quiz for seniors that works well on hair day, or any morning you want the men and the ladies swapping stories.
How to Play
Read each question and the four choices slowly, then give the group plenty of time to think. Play in teams, as one big group, or just for fun. There is no need to keep score.
Each round stands on its own, so you can run just the round that suits your residents, or play them all for a mixed room.
The printable A4 PDF has large print, each round starting on a new page, an answer key for every round for the activity leader, and reminiscing questions for each round.
A taste of what’s inside
Here are two sample questions from each country round.
🇺🇸🇨🇦 USA & Canada Round
What is the bright blue disinfectant, invented in Brooklyn in 1947, that combs and scissors stand in on the barber’s counter?
- AMercurochrome
- BBarbicide
- CWitch hazel
- DBay rum
In Anne of Green Gables, by Prince Edward Island author L. M. Montgomery, red-haired Anne buys dye from a pedlar that promises raven-black hair. What colour does her hair really turn?
- ABright orange
- BPurple
- CGreen
- DSnow white
+ 7 more questions in the printable A4 PDF
🇬🇧 British Round
What was the classic tidy men’s haircut asked for at every British barber’s: “short back and …”?
- ATop
- BFront
- CSides
- DFringe
In 1966 a 16-year-old Londoner had her hair cropped short at Leonard’s salon in Mayfair and was soon named “The Face of ’66”. Who was she?
- AJean Shrimpton
- BTwiggy
- CSandie Shaw
- DLulu
+ 5 more questions in the printable A4 PDF
🇦🇺🇳🇿 Australia & New Zealand Round
Which sweet-smelling hair oil did many Aussie blokes slick their hair down with in the 1940s and 50s, often straight from the barber’s shelf?
- ABay rum
- BCalifornian Poppy
- CLanolin
- DEucalyptus oil
Not every famous haircut happens at the barber’s. Since 1961, Masterton in New Zealand has hosted the Golden Shears, a world-famous contest for what?
- AHairdressing
- BHedge trimming
- CSheep shearing
- DTopiary
+ 5 more questions in the printable A4 PDF
⭐ PLUS a bonus Everyone Remembers round, 4 questions everyone can join in on
🌏 Don’t skip a round just because it’s not your country. Most of these questions work wherever your residents grew up. Australians and Brits love the American questions too, and everyone has a story about a trip to the hairdresser or the barber.
Premium Members get all 27 questions, the answer keys, reminiscing questions and the printable A4 PDF.
Join Premium MembershipAlready a member? Log inUSA & Canada Round
1. Finish the famous knock on the door that ends every old barbershop tune: “Shave and a haircut …”
A. A nickel
B. Two bits
C. Free today
D. Half a buck
2. From 1926 to 1963, little rhyming signs spaced along American highways ended with the name of which shaving cream?
A. Barbasol
B. Noxzema
C. Burma-Shave
D. Gillette Foamy
3. The famous 1940s and 50s ads asked “Which twin has the Toni?” What had one of the twins done at home?
A. Dyed her hair with henna
B. Set her hair in pin curls
C. Cut her own fringe
D. Given herself a home permanent
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