Reasons for Going to the Barber
April 19, 2010, By Josh Katzowitz 1 comment
My grandfather was a barber. I remember spending two weeks every summer in Syracuse, N.Y., and at least once per trip, I’d sit in his barber’s chair in the middle of the dining room, look in the mirror (above it hung his old barber pole) and watch him cut my afro into something more manageable.
My payment to him was simple: a kiss on the cheek, and he’d return it with a sloppy kiss of his own. His name was Isaac, and all his life, he cut hair. A few times a day, older gentlemen – friends of my grandfather who had sat underneath his scissors for decades – would stop by the house. For $10, he gave them their monthly cuts.
He was retired, but he didn’t put down the scissors until the day he died. The customers wouldn’t – or couldn’t – stop seeking him out for yet another trim.
This is the special relationship between barber and customer. This is the main reason why you should stop inhabiting the chain cutteries – the Great Clips or the Fantastic Sam’s. Have some respect for yourself, man. Find a barber you can trust. Find a barber you can love. Find a barber who will be with you until the end.
They’re still out there, and usually, they’re older guys who have been doing this since your daddy was a young whippersnapper. My grandfather notwithstanding, I inhabit a salon these days, because I like the stylist that cuts my hair. But if I took the time to find a barber who could make me feel like my grandfather – minus the sloppy kiss, of course – I’d switch to him quicker than a tuft of hair hits the floor.
Salons are for the metrosexuals, the guys who search for the most-expensive shampoo – it has tea tree oil in it, for God’s sake – and who tout the gel with the most hold and the least amount of crunch.
Barbers are for the men who like their haircuts with a side of old-school.
Take the example of Jeff Biddle, who compares his barber, Tom in Harrison, Ohio to Mayberry’s Floyd. Biddle has been going there since the seventh grade, and he doesn’t plan to stop now.
When Biddle and Tom get together, they chat about the local politics, the local college athletics or the restaurants both near and far.
“Tom seems to be an expert on whatever topics most interest his customer at that moment,” Biddle said. “Of course, in a male-only shop, wives and girlfriends and their shortcomings are frequently discussed by those in the chair or waiting. Tom says that nowhere is a man braver than in a barber shop.”
That just seems like the motto for a barber, doesn’t it? Biddle stays with Tom because of three simple axioms: he cuts Biddle’s hair the way he likes it, the cut costs him less than $15 and it’s cheap entertainment for an hour once every four or five weeks.
Which, come to think of it, are pretty much the same reasons Jamie Twilley has been visiting Curt’s shop in Loveland, Ohio since Twilley was a toddler. His father always went to Curt. His grandfather did, as well. At first, Twilley loved a trip to Curt’s place because, after the hair had been cut and swept away, he got to pick out a lollipop and a toy from the kids’ basket.
Eventually, he found other reasons to love his barber.
“As I got older through middle school and even high school, I would enjoy the time, because Bob was family,” Twilley said. “Bob asked about school, sports, girls, how my family was doing. Bob knew as much about my life, and I his, as any family member would know about another. It was about a bond that we shared.”
Appointments with Curt never last less than 30 minutes either. Which is just fine with everybody that walks through his door. You can’t get that same atmosphere at the Supercuts in the strip mall down the road.
“Nowadays the chain haircut places herd you through like cattle and hardly remember you – if at all – no matter how many times you visit,” Twilley said. “They find out how you like your haircut from the computer, and ask you the same questions every week. Getting a haircut now is a chore. It used to be a hobby.”
It still can be that way. Find the rotating barber’s pole, pick out the guy with the white shirt and the scissors, sit down and let him tell you a tale or two while he takes a little off the sides.
The customers, as you can see, need their barber. But, if my grandfather is any indication, the barber needs his customers just as badly. That, my friend, is a beautiful relationship.
Josh Katzowitz lives in Atlanta and covers the NFL for CBSSports.com. He is a featured contributor to ManoftheHouse.com and author of the book, Bearcats Rising. He's currently working on a book about pro football that is scheduled to be released in 2012.
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