It’s testament to the somewhat democratic nature of the internet that a smiling 53-year-old, silver-haired, bushy-tashed man can become one of the stars of online content creation. Münür Önkan is an award-winning hairdresser from Ankara and one of the pioneers of the Turkish barber ASMR genre, with over 1.79 million subscribers on YouTube and 1.6 million followers on TikTok. Known for his combination of body massage, personal grooming and skincare, his videos have racked up over 600 million views.
Önkan’s videos are typically filmed in his barbershop, surrounded by certificates and awards, with only him and his client in shot. He might trim a client’s beard with manual clippers or wax their back hair, before massaging their head, neck and torso. Microphones strapped to his forearms capture the activity, each recorded sound clear as a bell: the slow lathering of foam, fingers scrubbing the scalp, the meditative trickle of water. For a global audience, the videos provide …