Traditional Barbershops are making a comeback

[Joe13]

I've been shaving my head since I was 17. Figure I have saved $20-30 every 2 weeks since then.

Eventually it got to the point of not being able to grow enough hair after wearing hats all of my life that it's not an option anymore.


Last barber I went to was a shave for my brothers wedding in a little place on MLK 7 years ago. Folks were super friendly and chatty. My dad and brother hardly said a word but I had a great time.

 

[mrblond]

just rock the The Rock.. and ya dont need no stinkin barber shop.

 

[slimmer13]

This is on the door of the place I go.

 

[MannyGlocks]

My noggin is mowed about every 2 weeks by my wife.

She takes the comb off the Wahl Senior clipper and the result is almost as close as shaving will get it.

No need to pay for a haircut when 75% of the skull is sans hirsute adornment...5 minutes of her mowing and I'm done!

 

[RicInOR]

My barber was complaining he can't find any traditional barbers - say he wants to go on vacation.
Due to Oregon licensing, barbers have to train at beauty school. Which is expensive.

 

[CRBMoA]

Been cutting my own hair since the Reagan Era.

 

[albin25]

(secret shame?) I've used the FloBee that I bought in 1986 once a month and have had to replace the plastic spacers once (about 4 years ago), still going strong....haven't been to a barbershop in over 30 years...figure I've saved at least an Uzi, 2 1911's, a shotgun, 3 lever guns and a skid of ammo!

Although, lately I've been tempted to try the local barbershop on Main Street.... featuring, a cut and a beer!

 

[308]

I haven't stepped into a barber shop for well over 20yrs now, as I have been cutting my own hair since.

Scissors or Clippers...lol

 

[bbbass]

You'd never go back to girls, and that beautiful wife of yours would be pissed!

Jeez K-man, I just snorted my covfefe!!

Been two Barber shops here in town since as long as I can remember (so more then 60 years) there was three when the last one opened but then one of the guys retired and it became a tattoo parlor. SO still two.

Two here also. There was one downtown that was very popular but parking was hard to find. Then another opened up on Hwy 82... he was the brother of a friend. I went for awhile but the downtown place give a better haircut and at the end uses this big massager on the upper back and neck muscles.... that's worth the price alone!!!

Tight around the ears, then #2, then #4 on top. Let's Roll!!!

Due to the amount of pomade I use, the visit to the hair stylist is part haircut and part oil change.

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou???

This is on the door of the place I go.

View attachment 612857

Mine too.

My barber was complaining he can't find any traditional barbers - say he wants to go on vacation.
Due to Oregon licensing, barbers have to train at beauty school. Which is expensive.

I thought it was weird when I found out a barber or hairstylist has to go to school for a year... but I was able to open my home inspection biz by just printing up some biz cards and hanging out a shingle.

 

[bbbass]

Now my quartet will have someplace to sing!!!

 

[MannyGlocks]

I'm one of the rare few who realizes 'I can't carry a tune in a bucket'.

American Idol - No thanks, hearing talent-less sad sacks attempt to sing is torture, not entertainment.

Karaoke is for gluttons of exquisite embarrassment who don't realize they should be embarrassed - everyone else is....

Can't sing a note?

Head out for a karaoke bar to torture the patrons who'll gladly give you applause for 'finally, mercifully stopping'...

 

[DB is Here]

I sing Solo


Solo that you can't hear me.

 

[MannyGlocks]

Back to barbers

One of my best buds after finishing a hitch in the Coast Guard came back, went to Barber school. Did well. Owns his own 5 chair shop now and is still working though he too is long in the tooth. His Dad was still a barber at 85.

Then he became mayor (for 13 years) of my little (20,000 Pop.) high school town.

At 15, I told my Dad, enough with the hitchhiking. I could support myself with an after school job (I would stay in school) at a local grocery store...but that's another story...

What few know: The mayor was once one of the very wildest people I've ever known.

In our teens, he and I along with others who ultimately became LE or business types spent so much time in a Mexican border town (Laredo - only 2 hours away) at houses of ill repute and bars we got to be known by the locals on a first name basis. We could've been guides.

My future mayor buddy, also raised fighting roosters and we'd travel all over the state for illegal rooster fights that LE quietly endorsed. To get in you had to get past the posted deputy. We always did as we had fighting roosters with us...

Gambling on the roosters was as active as it is at horse or dog racing. The gamblers could be a 10 year old who would bark out some odds at a 60 year old and with credibility. The kid might shout: I'll give ya 2 to 1 on the big gray, and it'd go on the big chalk board.

All the big time vendors would be there too. Selling Bud, Coca Cola, hot dog vendors and so on, each and every one, a known brand.. it was a big deal, but held way, way out in the obscure country. Hundreds and hundreds would be there. These events were their own festivals of cock fighting. Watching 2 roosters fight was not a bloody affair, but yes, it was formally ordered & brutal...however, the roosters were not equipped with slashers like their untrained barn yard South American counterparts, but leather bound equipped with raw hide strapped 1 1/4"or so gaffs and the roosters were hardened, highly trained athletes... many fought and won to then keep on fighting like boxers.

Yeah, Texas in the 60's was wild...

An other little known fact of Texas origin - Minors can drink alcohol in bars with one caveat: The bartender has to serve the booze to the parents first and then the parents can legally hand over the drink to the kid.

That factoid is still true.

And buying a gun in the 60's was something I did as a kid... At 15, I bought a .22 Remington bolt action repeater with a 4 power Weaver scope at a local hardware store. It wasn't considered odd that a kid could buy a gun as teenagers were roughly considered adult enough, responsible enough to do so. And, we were.

OK, back to barbers, in Texas, never assume they're milk-toast...they may have histories never imagined in your world horatio...

 

[teflon6string]

From '77 to '97, I dreamt of emerging from the military to grow my thick, flowing, Led Zep locks past the shoulders again. But things change and I'm not gonna do it now (in gray). After one post-service excursion beyond the collar, I reverted to a short cut once a month. But now my preferred barber is out with a bad back and may not return, so I've been shopping around.

I was waiting in one place, listening to audiobooks. Watching three haircuts in a row, I saw young guys cropped super close all the way up the sides (pale skin showing through black hair), transitioning abruptly into an inch-thick pile way up top. Is it a "high and turf?" They all seemed happy and tipped well.

Maybe this gal can do what I call a standard men's haircut, or maybe not... I'll never know. It was suddenly my turn and I panicked. Faking my way out, I looked at my watch, said I was late and dashed to safety. What she expertly administered three times may be a strong fashion statement for twenty-somethings in these parts. I only know I didn't want to be number four.

Anyone know a decent adult barber with a no-nonsense price in the Forest Grove, Cornelius area? I'm a good tipper.

 

[bbbass]

My future mayor buddy, also raised fighting roosters and we'd travel all over the state for illegal rooster fights that LE quietly endorsed. To get in you had to get past the posted deputy. We always did as we had fighting roosters with us...

As long is it's not dog fighting. I hate dog fighting, the people that engage/promote it, the people that cover for it, and the people that go to bet/watch. F' em all!!! As far as I'm concerned Michael Vick is lucky to still be breathing...

I was waiting in one place, listening to audiobooks. Watching three haircuts in a row, I saw young guys cropped super close all the way up the sides (pale skin showing through black hair), transitioning abruptly into an inch-thick pile way up top. Is it a "high and turf?" They all seemed happy and tipped well.

Yah, the modern cuts seem more than a bit weird to me... as if man-buns and doosh-knots are not enough, we gotta have skin tight on one side and a pelt on the other... the gals look even worse.

I had my hair long in my yout' but in the long run it was just a hassle. Washing and combouts, always rubbing on my skin and blowing around, even with a headband or ponytail... a traditional cut is so much easier... towel it off and go!