Why Don’t Barbers Shave?

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me, “Why don’t barbers shave anymore?” I’d have more money in that than in shaves. First of all, I may assure you that I do still shave. About twice a week. My face can’t handle more than twice a week. Sometimes, I may only shave once a week, but never more than twice. Bill Unruh doesn’t shave.   Why don’t barbers shave anymore?  I shall proceed to give you the sum, division, and square root of the mater.

In higher end barber shops, especially in bigger cities, and in Europe you will find shaves a common service. Many gentlemen are under the impression that barbers don’t shave because of AIDS. That may be a good reason, but is not so. The law does not prohibit barbers from shaving, as some assume. I have had customers tell me their old barber told them it was illegal to shave now days. I had to break the news that their barber was a liar.  The real reason why we don’t shave folks is we don’t want to.

It’s not a paying service. Would you pay as much for a shave as you would for a hair cut? Most men would not. In my shop for instance, a haircut is $9, so it would follow that a shave would make that bill $18. Now I’m quite inexpensive. Naturally, because we are a poor county and no one would pay here what they pay elsewhere. In Manhattan and Emporia they get from $13-$25 for a haircut. That would make your tab $26-$50 for a shave and haircut. Women will spend money on their hair, and they will spend freely. Men, as a rule, do not.

Let’s look at what a shave in the barber shop entails. First, the barber sees to a fresh headrest paper, and since we can’t buy those any longer for our old style chairs we must use a clean towel to cover the headrest. The client is then draped and reclined. We also place a towel around the neck and tuck it under the shirt so your collar doesn’t get soapy. Mind you, all these towels will need to be laundered later. Then we lather up your face, taking care not to get it in your nose or mouth. We use a hot lather machine in the shop, as far as I’m concerned, the soap that is used in it is not nearly as nice as cream or glycerin soap.

Next, a hot towel is applied. If we have a towel steamer or warmer that makes the job easy, if not we hold the towel in a hot stream of water and wring it out well. While the client sits steaming a bit the barber may or may not strop his razor, it depends on what superstitious fool trained him. After removing the towel, more lather is applied and shaving commences.

This is the hard part. There are fourteen maneuvers while shaving the face, and four positions to hold the razor in the hand. If the barber shaves ten faces a day, he is bound to get quite good at shaving. This will never happen however, because three men may seriously desire a shave in the shop in the space of a year. So let’s give the barber credit and say that he is quite adept at handling that razor around your nose and jugular. The next thing he has to worry about is how the clients face is going to respond to the blade. Remember now, the razor is practically a surgical implement. Any appendage on your skin will be amputated. It is true that no matter if a barber has been shaving for fifty years he can still draw blood or have an accident. I have witnessed it. We cannot predict what a man’s face will do. The direction the hair grows, the coarseness or fineness, the shape of the jaw line, the chin, all these variables the barber must deal with.

The most common problem with a straight edge shave is men react poorly to the closeness of it. The steel and alloys in the blade can cause the skin to become irritated. All this the barber worries about, because he wants his patron to have a pleasant shave, and knows full well it could be excruciating. Also, the barber will have to stop about halfway through and strop the razor to maintain the edge.

Let’s say the shave went great. It was comfortable and smooth and relaxing and the barber didn’t drop the razor at any point, that you were aware of. You may have a second time over if necessary. Then you may have a face cream applied and massaged in. Another steam towel is applied and when removed a finishing lotion with some facial manipulations. The face is dried with a towel and a little talc is powdered over the face. All that took twenty minutes and only $9!  The customer is ready to pay and be on his way.

But what’s this? He finds his shave has taken so long he has missed the bus and is now late for his appointment. Now the client thinks, “If only I had shaved myself this morning, it would have taken five minutes and I would have saved a Hamilton!”

Another legitimate reason barbers no longer shave is because the barber college does not teach it.  Why? Because the whole time I was in school no one came in to get a shave. Also, I’m sure the thought of thirty students wielding razors causes the insurance company to shiver. When I went through school we shaved balloons, and I am proud to say that no one popped a single balloon.

I do razor cuts and neck shaves, but I am very particular about what necks I shave. We have to worry about people on blood thinner. A small nick could cost a man his life.

As for my own experience giving shaves, I’ve done three up to this point. If I may say so myself, I think my record is pretty fair. My grandpa was the first one I shaved. I didn’t have a barber chair so I laid him back in the recliner. The finished product was very nice. A clean shave, he said it was comfortable, but he never wanted to do it again. He said it took too long, but I really think he lost interest when I stuck my finger in his mouth. Oh, that’s another one of those things you probably wished you knew before you sat down for a shave. It’s a common practice for the barber to stick his finger in the corners of your mouth so as to get the little devil of whiskers that grow there.

No Girls Allowed

Mom brings brother and sister to the barber shop so brother can get his hair cut.  The little girl asks mom, “Are you going to get your hair cut?”  Mom says, “No, I get my hair cut at the beauty shop.”  “Can I get my hair cut?” asks the little girl.  “Barbers don’t cut little girls hair,” replies mom.  More than a few times I’ve heard this exchange or something very close to it.

It has long been a misconception that women are either not allowed or cannot get their hair cut in a barber shop.  I’m going to set the record straight.  The only instance I have ever found that women were not permitted in a barber shop was specifically for women teachers in the early 20^th century in Kansas.  It was in fact a part of their contract that while they were employed as a teacher they could not enter a barber shop.

The only explanation I have for such a strict contract is that barber shops have long had a reputation of being a seedy place.  Often selling cigars and occasionally housing a billiard table or two, chewing and spitting, it did not promote a very feminine atmosphere.

From the New York Times of 1876, we find that some shops were even serving beer.  “Those who style themselves the only legitimate and artistic practitioners of the tonsorial art denounce with vast energy the conduct of certain interlopers who have lowered the dignity of the profession by bribing the public with free cigars and gratuitous beer, to come be shaved at half the regular rate.  Barbers that have hitherto found no lack of customers who were anxious to be shaved at the rate of ten cents per head, foresee that when a rival offers to shave for five cents, and to throw in a glass of beer or a cigar, the dignity and interests of legitimate practitioners must suffer.”

Sent to me last week from Cher Olson was a clipping from a magazine.  The subject was old fashioned barbershops from various places where beer and stiff drinks are served with the service of a shave.  At the Proper Barbershop in Los Angeles you can have a cold beer and play Xbox games while having your hair done.  The Blind Barber in New York City has a cocktail lounge.  Miami Beach and New Orleans also boast shops with bars.  All I can say is real smart, get their blood thinned out and then shave ‘em.

When I am told that only beauticians cut women’s hair I ask, “Who cut women’s hair before beauticians?”  It is very plain that barbers have been around much longer, and I assure you women not only patronized barber shops, they also operated them.  From Frank Leslie’s Illustrated News, November 23^rd, 1867, “Madam Gardoni is doing a good business in Galveston, Texas, having taken up the razor for a living.  She is the first woman who has successfully invaded this particular masculine business, and her customers praise the style in which she harvests the stubble from the face of men.  She is a thirty-year-old immigrant employing two men to assist in her shop.  A female barber would probably do well in New York City, if as good-looking.  Fancy the sensation of being asked, in dulcet, flute-like tones, ‘Does the razor pull, sir?”

As further proof of barbers tending to ladies hair care, I have in my possession a 1906 edition of A.B. Moler’s ‘The Barbers’, Hairdressers’ and Manicurers’ Manual.’  Moler wrote the book on barbering, literally.  His book was the first on the subject and printed in 1893.  That same year he also opened the first barber school in the nation in Chicago.  He has a section that is very detailed in doing women’s hair.  Parting, crimping, puffing, tieing(sic), roughing, forming dips, high French  knot, bow knot, half figure eight, marcel wave, trimming, shampooing, drying (my word you should see the dryers they once used), singeing (yikes!), clipping, everything!  If the Moler graduate can’t do it, you don’t need it.

When the bob became popular in the 1920s young women were lined up at the barber shop to have their long hair cropped.  Barbers began to realize the income they were missing by not advertising to the fairer sex.  From the 1920s on through the end of the 30s barbers started advertising ‘hair bobbing done here’ or ‘beauty parlor’ in order to attract the feminine crowed.

According to some, barbershops were casualties of WWII.  In 1880 there were 44,851 barbers employed in this country.  By 1939 barbershops numbered close to 122,000 nationwide.  At the end of WWII only 92,000 shops remained in business.  Research done in 1996 shows that 62,034 barbershops were listed in the Yellow Pages in the United States.  Beauty Shops numbered 202,000.  Council Grove has its own history of few or no barber shops and many beauty shops.  Council Grove was without a barber from 1982-1992 and from 1995-2003 when I opened my shop.  There were nine beauty shops listed in town when I arrived and several more listed in the area.

Barber shops are making a slow come back, but due to the changing of the times and peoples habits, barber shops will never be like they once were.  Very few men get weekly or biweekly haircuts like they once did.  They do not come in every day or two for a shave.  And never again will the barber remain busy until midnight on Sunday as he did in the days when Saturday night made the town bustle.

Barber Board & Shop Changes

Last week I made mention how the creation of the State Barber Boards made changes that would affect the barbershop for all time to come. Kansas created their State Board of Barbering February 27, 1913. The purpose of the board was to standardize education and shop practices for the protection of the public and the professionals. Before the Barber Board, individuals learned the trade from a master barber, one who had numerous years of experience under their belt.  Apprenticeships often lasted for three years. After which, the journeyman barber could open his own establishment.

Early on, for a barber to lawfully practice in this state, he was to attend a barber school approved by the state. He was to complete a course of 2000 hours training, and then apprentice under a master barber for one year before he could go out on his own. When I went through the barber college in Wichita, nearly ten years ago, 1500 hours were required to get a license and they have long ago done away with the apprenticeship.  They found that an apprenticeship was a hindrance to the perpetuation of the profession.  Since the number of barbers in the state is dramatically fewer than it was 60 years ago, it is better to cut down the time from schooling to employment.  Also, with the scarcity of barbers it would be difficult to find one to apprentice under.

But, you may ask, doesn’t the barber need that extra training?  I can assure you that most of us were fairly satisfactory barbers by the end of the third month of school.  The rest of the time is just perfecting your execution.  Then again, there are a few that will never be good at cutting hair no matter how many years of training they get.

Every state has different requirements by their own Board of Barbering. Last time I checked, Alabama was the only state in the Union that does not have a Barber Board, consequently there is no need to be licensed or even trained to practice. Have mercy.

History records Joseph Farina at the age of 7 years passed his barber exam in 1917 and began work in his father’s shop in New Buffalo, Mich.  An inspector walked in the shop and directed the boy to shave him.  “No blood was drawn and a certificate was issued.’  Joseph’s brother Russell was also employed at a very early age.

The most notable change by state boards was in sanitary practices.  After the turn of the century ‘sanitary shops’ were in vogue.  Really, all that meant was that they had running water.  Even up into the ‘30s back bars were still manufactured without lavatories, but they could be added if desired.  By about 1916 the ‘Terminal Method’ was the only acceptable way to operate your shop.  The name was derived from New York City’s Terminal Station, where the method was first practice.  Basically it had running water, lavatories, steam sterilizers, sanitary compartments for implements and an attention to cleanliness.

If you walked into a barber shop anytime from 1890-1920, you would find very elaborate and decorative back bars. Some had gingerbread work, finials and even sphinxes, griffins or carved busts of women incorporated into them.  The back bar was designed to catch your eye, as well as dust.  When sanitary shops came in, all the ‘dust collectors’ were removed to make cleaning easy. Then to top it off, the beautiful oak and walnut wood was painted white to look clean. This is why authentic back bars are so expensive today; it is very rare to find them complete and unadulterated.  Wooden back bars had come to an end and by 1930 tile and glass back bars were being produced, replacing ornate, figured wood with colorful geometric design.

Another good reason for having regulations is to prevent barbers from poisoning their customers. I kid not. Before standard training and licensing, on back to the very first barbers, it was a common practice to mix their own concoctions of hair, skin and other tonics. Tonics and hair dyes often contained such chemicals as benzoin, tincture of cantharides, silver nitrate, corrosive sublimate (aka mercury chloride, once used to treat syphilis), and even laudanum. Now, aren’t you glad I’m not trying to sell you this stuff?

A headline from the New York Times November 8, 1876 reads, “NEEDED REFORMS- The worst features of tonsorial depravity are, however, exhibited in connection with the inevitable “tonic” which every barber offers for sale. No matter what may be the condition of the customer’s hair-whether it is soft or course, black or gray, thick or thin-the barber informs him that he must use the “tonic” or he is lost. To sell to every customer a bottle of tonic is the unswerving purpose of every barber, and it is only the exceptionally obstinate and courageous man who escapes. In every barber’s shop there are rows upon rows of bottles filled with “tonic” and bearing the names of victims who have been forced to purchase them. The story of their weakness and defeat is thus constantly kept before their eyes, and so depressing is its effect that the man who has once bought a bottle of “tonic” is thenceforth the barber’s slave. He may never use that bottle, but when, after an interval of two weeks, the barber tells him that the bottle is empty and that he needs a new bottle, he buys it without a word of protest.” This was of course presented in a humorous manner, yet there was a shade of truth to it.