Naked Barber to grace national TV

CASUALLY seated in his own barber chair, Richard Savvy sports a devilish grin as he speaks openly about his rather loose relationship with clothing.

“I guess if you spoke to my mum she would say that I always ran around as a young boy or as a teenager just wearing a towel,” he says.

“Nudity doesn’t bother me. And I was never brought up for it to bother me, I guess that’s why I have no issues.”

As The Naked Barber, Richard has garnered himself somewhat of a celebrity status amongst the gay scene in Sydney and Melbourne (he operates out of Melbourne a few days each month).

At home in his intimate Surry Hills studio, he’s quick to point out that, beyond the obvious sexual side, he’s also a good hairdresser.

“I’m here to give a service,” he says, sporting a singlet from bearish Melbourne venue, The Laird.

“The only service I really give is a grooming service.”

And while Richard’s clients are eager to sing his praises, they’re just as ready to open up about the other side to his service.

“If you’re coming here to get a haircut, then you’re going to get a good haircut”, says Tim, a long-time client and now friend of Richard.

“But you can find sexuality in a lot of things where they may not be. If you’re coming to experience something or to try and find a sexual side, I’m sure you could find it.”

As one of the organisers behind some of Sydney’s best-known leather fetish events, Tim is one of Richard’s most loyal customers. But surprisingly, not all loyal clients are gay men.

Dr Michelle Mars is a qualified sexologist. And while she prefers not to disrobe for Richard, she believes The Naked Barber offers an incredibly healthy concept.

“Exhibitionism, titillation, voyeurism, all those kind of things are absolutely involved,” she says excitedly, laughing off any suggestion that she’s a nudist.

“I’ve been doing gender and sexuality for most of my life… I think a lot of people are not getting the sex they want or having the sexual experiences that they want because they don’t perceive this to be a kind of environment that they can engage with.”

“I think there’s a lot of sadness in the world because people don’t express themselves sexually.”

By his own admission, Richard’s business is a niche one — but not as niche as many might think. A recent survey of over 7000 people by dating site AdultMatchMaker.com.au found that over 60 per cent of respondents list kink as a sexual fantasy.

At the very least, visiting The Naked Barber will have you leaving with a haircut. But for the curious, there’s also the choice to be naked, for Richard to be naked, to dress in fetish-wear, or to have your lower regions groomed in a leather sling.

For Richard, his creation is simply a way to allow people to be who they truly feel:

“I love it when people are themselves. We’re all different, and I like to give them that area where they can be that.”

See The Naked Barber at work on The Feed, 7.30pm tonight on SBS2.