Time for a haircut, there many options to choose from.

For me I just want a plan old haircut…nothing fancy, no frills, just a haircut…. that’s it! There are a lot of franchises/companies out there and pretty much everywhere, in malls, outlet malls, shopping centers, etc… Maybe places like these work for other people but not for me. When I was old enough my dad took me to his barber shop…and that is what I want to share about, the barber shop!

A barber getting ready to shave the face of a seated customer, circa. 1801.

Ah the old fashion barber shop, let me tell you a little bit of what I discovered and let me say this I was surprised and had no idea!

The History

The word barber is from the Latin word barba, which means beard.

The barber's trade has a long history: razors have been found among relics of the Bronze Age (around 3500 BC) in Egypt. In ancient Egyptian culture, barbers were highly respected individuals. Priests and men of medicine are the earliest recorded examples of barbers. Men in Ancient Greece would have their beards, hair, and fingernails trimmed and styled by the κουρεύς (cureus), in an agora (market place) which also served as a social gathering for debates and gossip.

Barbering was introduced to Rome by the Greek colonies in Sicily in 296 BC, and barber shops quickly became very popular centers for daily news and gossip. A morning visit to the tonsor became a part of the daily routine, as important as the visit to the public baths, and a young man's first shave (tonsura) was considered an essential part of his coming of age ceremony. A few Roman tonsores became wealthy and influential, running shops that were favorite public locations of high society; however, most were simple tradesmen, who owned small storefronts or worked in the streets for low prices.

Starting from the Middle Ages, barbers often served as surgeons and dentists. In addition to haircutting, hairdressing, and shaving, barbers performed surgery, bloodletting and leeching, fire cupping, enemas, and the extraction of teeth; earning them the name "barber surgeons". Barber-surgeons began to form powerful guilds such as the Worshipful Company of Barbers in London. Barbers received higher pay than surgeons until surgeons were entered into British warships during naval wars. Some of the duties of the barber included neck manipulation, cleansing of ears and scalp, draining of boils, fistula and lancing of cysts with wicks.

What about the pole?

The red and white pole outside barber shops references a time when barbers were expected to perform bloodletting and other medical procedures to heal the sick; red represented blood and white represented bandages. "Barber surgeons" in Rome also performed teeth extraction, cupping, leeching, bloodletting, surgery and enemas.

The pole itself is said to symbolize the stick that a patient squeezed to make the veins in his arm stand out more prominently for the procedure. In Europe, barber poles traditionally are red and white, while in America, the poles are red, white and blue. One theory holds that blue is symbolic of the veins cut during bloodletting, while another interpretation suggests blue was added to the pole as a show of patriotism and a nod to the nation’s flag. However, today's barber poles represent little more than being a barber shop that cuts hair and does shaves.

Prior to 1950, there were four manufacturers of barber poles in the United States. In 1950, William Marvy of St. Paul, Minnesota, started manufacturing barber poles. Marvy made his 50,000th barber pole in 1967, and, by 2010, over 82,000 had been produced. The William Marvy Company is now the sole manufacturer of barber poles in North America, and sells only 500 per year (compared to 5,100 in the 1960s).

Conclusion

I put out this post today because I got my haircut yesterday and it got me thinking about just how hard it is to find a good barber shop these days. The man that cut my hair for many many years retired around 7 years ago. I was then forced to go to one of those “other” places for a few years until I found another barber shop in my area. I enjoy going there and not having to explain how I want my hair cut, I sit down and off the hair goes. I am not only supporting a local business, that stays busy, but also supporting a craft that is slowly dying out.

Bonus images:

Bucharest, Romania around 1842

Interior of a barber's shop, circa 1920

All images from this post and most of the text can be found here.

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If you missed my other post from this past week, please take a look!

• Verse of the day - John 12:42-43

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QUESTION: Are there any men out there that still go to a barber shop? Please let me know!