When is a barber shop no longer a barber shop?

Don't get fooled by the "men's salon". Here in Boise, there are a couple of places like that. One is decorated like a locker room with a TV showing sports. However, they have very young girls that cut your hair. Some are eye candy, most are not and they have different grades of service. With the MVP treatment, you get a hot towel, a shampoo, and a massage using one of those electric massagers. Of course, they don't offer shaves, so I'm not sure what purpose of the hot towel is. But every time I go there, the stylists rattle off a list of questions to ask you, with no real conversation going. They just ask a set of the same questions each time you go in and they appear downright bored with what they are doing.

I did a search for "Turkish Barber" on YouTube last night...talk about service! That's what they need to bring here. Flames along the ears, head and face massages, the thing they do with the dental floss, real straight razors...all for a few Euros.

Are there still old barber shops? Very few in my city, I'm afraid.

I go to a fake one. It looks and smells like a barber shop and all the customers are male but the "barbers" are usually 2 or 3 young hispanic women with an awful Springer-type talk show on the tv and at least one of their young kids running around. However it's still better and cheaper than a salon and they are pleasant and do a good job. Plus they trim the eyebrows and any ear hair, shavette the neck and around the ear and dab some Clubman on so it's not all bad. If they turned off the tv and spoke better English I wouldn't mind it all.

wurls said:

To me, a barber shop means several things:
1) All people cutting hair are male
2) All people getting their hair cut are male
3) All males inside said establishment complain about their wives, and stare/make comments about women they feel are "lookers".
4) The pictures hung up inside the place are macho/masculine (hockey team photo(s), military photo(s), car photo(s)
5) There is a bottle of anything Pinaud (aftershave, talc powder)
6) There is no cash register. Payments are all done cash only (AKA old school)
And 7th) When I get a flat top, he does the top part BY HAND with the electric shaver. Salons/spas have to use a huge wedge device which makes doing a flat top idiot proof.

Those are what a barber shop means to me.

Click to expand...

That's so funny! The flat top comment is so true. My dad and I would go to the barber twice a month and when his barber moved out of town, he had trouble finding a place that would do very low GI style Flat tops. I remember him talking to me as a kid and telling me that if they can't cut a flat-top with their hands that they should not do it at all.

Having a very old strop hanging from the chair is a comforting sign as well.

Go West Young Man said:

Do you get a good haircut? Then the rest doesn't matter.

Click to expand...

YMMV... I respect your opinion but, I couldn't disagree more. To me the old school barbershop aka a "real" barbershop experience was about so much more than getting just a decent haircut. Of course getting a great cut is the primary reason for most any visit, but there was so much more that I appreciated about that traditional barbershop experience. I live in Northern Virginia and unfortunately there just aren't any "old school" barbershops left in this area. When I go visit grandma in small town south central Virginia that is a different story.

the barbershop scene in Gran Torino

reminds me so much of every old-school barbershop I've ever been to in my life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXD8yOxIPB0


/thread.

Great scene from a great movie...

TonyBrown said:

the barbershop scene in Gran Torino

reminds me so much of every old-school barbershop I've ever been to in my life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXD8yOxIPB0


/thread.

Click to expand...

wurls said:

To me, a barber shop means several things:
1) All people cutting hair are male
2) All people getting their hair cut are male
3) All males inside said establishment complain about their wives, and stare/make comments about women they feel are "lookers".
4) The pictures hung up inside the place are macho/masculine (hockey team photo(s), military photo(s), car photo(s)
5) There is a bottle of anything Pinaud (aftershave, talc powder)
6) There is no cash register. Payments are all done cash only (AKA old school)
And 7th) When I get a flat top, he does the top part BY HAND with the electric shaver. Salons/spas have to use a huge wedge device which makes doing a flat top idiot proof.

Those are what a barber shop means to me.

Click to expand...

+1

My 95 year old dad has been going to the same barber shop for I'm not sure how long, maybe 30 or 40 years. There are four barbers, all of them older (the age of the barber may have something to do with the authentic feel of this shop). There is a middle-aged manicurist in tight pants and dyed blonde hair. The barbers all know my dad but he always goes to the same one. Last time I was visiting home, Dad and I both got haircuts, one after the other. The barber gossiped with me as if I'd been going there forever... he was very sharp, remembering things that had happened months earlier when I'd taken dad in for a haircut. I said to him, "You are really sharp," meaning his mind, not his scisscors. He answered, "In this business, you got to be."

I think the day of the traditional barber is unfortunately fading fast... I would love to go to an old school barber but It would require a 30 to 45 minutes of travel each way and this is more time than I am willing to give up for a 15 minute haircut... but...

here in the Portland area (and I'm sure elsewhere) there has been a reniassance of new fangled male focus "barber shops". Here we have "Hair M", very high end and cuts come with neck and scalp massage and an adult beverage of your choice.... next is "The Barbers" here they do hot lather neck shaves and use a brush with talcum powder as a finishing touch, also comes with free popcorn and soda... and lastly we have "Sport Clips" where all the female barbers are dressed in referee garb and there is a small television with sports playing in front of every station, they also offer scalp massage and hot towels.

Now mind you I don't think you'll find a bottle of Pinaud or Jeris in any of them, but they are focused on specifically male customers... and that's better than the alternatives.

Personally, when it comes to a hair cut - I don't care whether it's being done by a man or a woman as long as they cut it to my specs and do a good job at it. The woman who cuts my hair now does a great job for a reasonable price (I swap roasted coffee for a haircut). The last man that cut my hair, after I had been there more than a handful of times, wanted to spend more time talking than cutting and, started to get lazy and would do a crappy job.

StuMcB said:

Been down to the Barbers this morning, got my hair cut. Grade 2 on the sides and half inch of the top. For me if the person cutting my hair aint a guy I shouldn't be there. While waiting there shouldn't be anything more to read then the local and daily paper and magazines about cars, NOT TV CELEBS OR FASHION!!!

Click to expand...

I think I go to a "fake" barber too. There are 4 young to middle age women working there, catering to a primarily male clientele, and do not offer shaves.

However there is pleasant atmosphere, conversation, a decent hair cut is about $20, the magazines are mostly geared towards men, but there is nothing edgy that a woman might be offended by (unless National Geographic and Field and Stream count)

Phil

Pgg365247 said:

YMMV... I respect your opinion but, I couldn't disagree more. To me the old school barbershop aka a "real" barbershop experience was about so much more than getting just a decent haircut. Of course getting a great cut is the primary reason for most any visit, but there was so much more that I appreciated about that traditional barbershop experience. I live in Northern Virginia and unfortunately there just aren't any "old school" barbershops left in this area. When I go visit grandma in small town south central Virginia that is a different story.

Click to expand...

If you're not too far from Reston there's an awesome place by the 7-11 on Sunrise Valley Road, just west of Wiehle. It's a small Korean-run place, but they do a shavette shave on the back of the neck, and a hot-towel neck massage. It's been a while but I'm sure it's still there, they did a booming business a couple of years ago.

I have really enjoyed the definitions and "what a barbwershop is to me" posts! Thanks guys! For me, it went like this...

Cheyenne, Wyoming (1996). After trying a few different salon/style places with women stylists (I got a good haircut) I was referred to a true barbershop attached to a downtown hotel. Single barber chair, a couch for waiting on-deck, old-school trained and licensed barber ("Willie") with about 30 years experience, older than me. Magazine rack with outdoors, cars, news type magazines to read while waiting. Friendly conversation among the customers. Barbicide jar, clippers, scissors, combs, the smell of talc and aftershave. Just the right amount of hair on the fllor to tell you they cut men's hair. No silk flowers, manicurists, women's magazines, no smell of permanent or hair color treatments. A friendly invitation to the chair. A 20-minute haircut with scissors & comb mostly, clipper trim, touch up if needed. Hot damp towels and hot shave cream for touch up straight edge shave around the ears and neck. More hot damp towels, a fancy towel dry (kind of a flap and wave thing), bay rum splash, let dry, talc finish around neck. Great conversation throughout. The bill: $7. He became my barber. He frequently would send me home with some hair gel, Clubman or Bay Rum. He even had one of the vibrating contraptions and would give me the neck and shoulder massage if there was no one waiting! 20 minutes in the chair and I felt like I spent the day at a spa or in therapy! I swear I lost a few pounds and had a a new spring in my step as I left the shop.

I moved away but any time I get back to Cheyenne I make an appointment and get the treatment from Willie. The bill now is still only $11 but he gets more than that. That's what a barbershop is to me. Thanks Willie!

When I lived in Texas and had a Mexican salon nearby, I used to go there regularly to get my hair cut. Most of the girls working there were friendly and fine to chat with, and they used a shavette to edge up the sides and back of the neck. I tried the more traditional barber shops around, but I always liked the way my hair looked at the salon better, despite the cool atmosphere of the old school barber shop. I keep the sides at #1 and the top very short with gel.

I don't have a preference on the gender of the barber, so long as they know what they are doing. Any barbershop worth its salt will only cut men's hair, or will cut a woman's hair but ONLY in a male style. Its not a salon, I don't want my hair washed and massaged, I want it cut. I prefer the use of a straight razor on the back of my neck, its a classic touch in a world so modern and tech centered. The barbershop should be a haven from that noise. You should want to sit, chat, and read a newspaper. I don't want to be bombarded with cellphones, constant news feed, ect. I think you just kind of know when you walk in, and see the clientele. A good sign is if you are recommended to a particular shop. YMMV, of course! I have been lucky to find good barbers in my travels. I can recommend a good shop in Maple, Ontario, in Windsor, Ontario, and now in West Lebanon, NH. The barber in Leb. had a vintage rifle semi-dismantled on the counter, that must count for something? Also, a manual cash register, not a computer. Very much a GUY place.

Indianapolis has a nice place called reds.

jrocker, a big thanks for posting those pics!! That place looks straight outta the 1940s! I love it!