When was the last time you got a haircut in a barber shop with a barber pole in front?

Back in the early sixties for me.

Still have one up the road from me close to an AFB, I swear I've always been the youngest person in there, old decor straight out of the 60s and 70s. Old school vacuum hooked up to the clippers. And you never have to ask them to get the ear hair, I guess them dealing with old farts its always assumed. Old tv in the corner, them catching naps after lunch in the chairs.

Ours had a shoe shine stand.

The pole was a symbol of the old blood letters

There's one a block from my house.

I can think of 3 in the town I last lived in.

I go to Cost Cutters because they don't talk. I sit down, say what I want, get up and pay. No BS discussion about crap neither of us cares about.

I thought cost cutters changed to hair experts. I used to go but they are still weird about covid and I've moved onto sports clips, I like that hot steamed towel.

Still called Cost Cutters here.

We have a localish franchise here called "The Barbershop" - was only for men, women could get a cut too but it was like 3x the cost and donated to charity. Some do-gooder shut them down.

Steam towel, wash, scalp massage - nice cut but the cost just kept going up. I'm not paying 30 bucks for a hair cut.

Back in the 1960s for me.

Every time, apart from when they were closed and my wife cut it.

I still go to one every two weeks. They still do a warm shaving cream and razor finish on the bottom.

I go to a Barber. No discussion there with my poor Spanish and his English being pretty bad. Pole out front and all. He worked at another shop while working 12 hr shifts at a local warehouse. Saved up and setup his own shop. Eventually he did the Barber thing full time. Go in, sit down, 45 min cut that’s always without a discussion, $40 and I’m out the door. He charges $20. I tip 100%, rather help out someone trying than someone lying around.

What I miss are the days when a hot towel shave was a standard add on for a modest fee and not considered to be some sort of high end spa treatment costing more than the haircut itself.

Every time. Known all three barbers for years. Catch up on everyone’s family, who’s killed a deer, fish caught, that type of thing.

Used to go to Cost Cutters. But, enough was enough, when I realized that when I ask them to cut an inch off all around, they cut a half inch. If i asked them to cut a half inch off, they'd cut a quarter inch off. So, five years ago, I bought a $30 Walls clipper at the local fleet supply. Two-three times a year I put the one inch comb on the blade and take off as much as will come off. Then, a couple times in between "cuts" I take a scissor and clip around my ears...I'm getting pretty darn good at it.

But, speaking of old times. I grew up in a small town (pop. 980) that was the crossroads of two railroads. Both depots in town still used telegraphs to send messages up/down the line. We had a pool hall in town that had five snooker tables and two eight-ball table. The owner required us kids to learn how to play pool on the eight-ball table before he'd let us play snooker. Pool was fifteen cent per game, and the owner would rack/set the table after each game.

The barber shop was a two seat, father/son operation. They offered bathes in another room, and, I remember, even in the early sixties, farmers would come into town for a bath and a shave. Barber shop was closed Sun/Mon. Every Feb/Mar the son used a back room to buy fur from local trappers.

Wow, I sound old.

+1

Back in the mid-70s for me when I was in college. Ras's Barber Shop on 7th South in Salt Lake City. It's a shop my grandpa had gone to for years and Ole Ras was a great, old school barber. Leather backed swivel chairs, hunting, fishing and detective magazines scattered all around and usually an old AM radio playing music or carrying a MLB game during the summer months. You got a haircut, straight razor shave and a scalp massage for about $3.00.

In the town next to where I grew up one of the last barbers in such a shop just passed away. Lots of French Canadians where I'm from including my family. Guy ran his place for over 50 years. Good, honest.man who raised his family that way. Love the Canucks.

I had an old guy with the old timey shop thing, spinny pole, a couple thousand arrowheads mounted to the wall. He shut down. Got old.

Another one, he cut my hair up till about 3 yrs ago.

He was just always so busy, stressed out 75 year old man. He was damn good barber but started getting crabby and douchey. He’d get behind running his mouth yakkin about Boomer topics. Then he’d fire you over to the one of his associate barbers which were a pair butchy lesbians that would leave me with cowlicks. Fugg that.

Started going to Great Clips. In/out no blabbing.

But, I’m going on almost 18 months without a haircut.

Just got home from one.

I go to one every 3 weeks, all 3 guys are in there early 40's , we talk about everything but Dem's, deer heads and fish on the walls, see farmers and rancher's ,and talk shop, great hair cut for 13 bucks.

All the time, my buddy owns one, choppers old school barbershop, Flemington New Jersey. I get the occasional straight edge razor shave :-)

Me and the boy go to one every 5 weeks or so on Friday after I get off work. Bunch of Asian ladies cutting hair but they only do men and still do the razor and shaving cream on the back. It’s $9 for him and $12 for me. They’ll scrape your whiskers off with a straight razor for another $9. The TV is stuck on the boxing channel and they have piles of sports magazines in the waiting area.

About a month ago, or less.. We have an actual barber in town - and he has the barber pole right outside the window...

Got one Richard. I'm about due for another haircut this week too.
When I was a kid, we used to think only effeminate boys went to hair dressers. My barber has always been the manliest old fashioned barber in the state. He cut the hair of military since he was old enough to enlist in the army. He started cutting hair of the neighbors as a kid. He was cutting hair of the little Italian town long before he had a license. Later he cut the hair of local celebrities and football and basketball teams. He kept it up all his life with a great reputation. I should finish writing a book about him. The biography should have a photo of his barber pole on the cover.

Nash's (Ignacio) Barber shop. Couldn't have been more than 200 square feet. Maybe 4 chairs. 4 chairs for waiting. A small back room with a curtain over the doorway where there was a small refrigerator with beer in it and a small stack of Playboy magazines where the grownups could wait. It was pretty much in and out with a regular boys haircut and a piece of Bazooka Joe bubble gum.
This was all up to May of 1968 when we moved to SoCal.

I went this morning. I’ve had the same barber since the 70s.

Every two weeks, you have to be a licensed barber to have a pole out front in Texas.

We have a really good barber in town, probably the best flat top barber that I've ever been to. It's 24 miles away and usually they're to busy whenever I'm in town. So I just let my wife butcher my hair up. At 63 I really don't give a damn what my hair looks like as long as it's cut tight.

Went to a real barber shop in Sierra Vista up until the shanghai shivers hit. Older man and a younger woman. Good conversation. The old man did the straight razor trim. Close to the main gate at Fort Huachucha and lots of stuff supporting the military and Second Ammendment.

In Yuma my boys and I went to the Oasis Barber Shop. An older Mexican man and two of his sons. They used to have a barber shop in the old downtown area. Moved to a newer shop in a shopping mall on Avenue A. The old man retired and his two boys continued cutting hair. One day we walked in and I could tell they were talking about us. Didn't think much about it. When I sat down he asked if Louie Kehl was my wife's uncle. I told him yes. He said we have cut your famliy's hair for five generations. They were very proud of that and made a point to tell whoever was in the shop when we came in. How can you not appreciate someone like that?

In Benson I used to go to a one armed barber. He didn't use a straight razor.

My barber wasn't as famous as was slappy's but the shop was a good place to hang out when I was supposed to be in catechism class. Reading Argosy and True was much more instructive to a developing young mind. Plenty of great drawings of scantily clad women killing nazis and japs. All those patriots had big titties.


mike r

I go to Ft Campbell and there are lots of barber shops up that way. Most use the old clippers and vacuum systems.

I go every two weeks for a high n tight, the barber shop my family went to had cut
Four generations of my family,i showed the barbers son a picture of his grandfather giving me my first haircut. Now that he 's gone i go to another Italian guy that has an old time place,always busy,quick in and out with no B.S.

Been a while for me. We had a two chair barber shop here in the little town we live for ages but it closed a couple of years back and for lease now. It still has all the old original fixtures that date back to at least to the '40s if not earlier.

I used to get my hair cut there regularly back when the old former barber / owner ran it. He kept an old upright piano on the back wall where he'd play and sing with a local quartet after hours and when business was slow. He ran the barber shop by himself for no telling how long. He used to go to shut-ins homes, nursing homes, hospitals and occasionally funeral homes to give hair cuts and often as not for free. After he retired another barber bought it and it never was quite the same.

The new barber was okay but not too good at cutting hair. Every time I went regardless how I said I wanted my hair cut I wound up with a hair cut that looked just exactly like how his hair was cut. He retired a few years ago with health issues and leased the shop to another fairly young barber. He didn't last long at all. He'd just up and close the shop and leave when ever he felt like it. It was closed about as much as it was open. Never did get a haircut from him. Wife's been cutting my hair mostly since the original old barber left.

Just went this morning. 2 on the sides 4 on top.

If you wear a "0 Three" or a "One 4", get you a Wahl kit. Fades are easy.

Not the intro models.

That's funny. A real genuine barbershop quartet! Lol.
My barber used to go to the nursing homes too....not to.cut hair, but to serve the Lord. No charge. He never did end up a resident, but he went to bring those shut ins a blessing.

Right up until December of 2019, when my barber, Pete, passed at age 93! His father, also a barber, built his little shop for him upon his return from WW II Europe. Pete went to barber's school, and operated that shop from 1946 until his death.

As Forrest Gump might have said, getting a haircut at Pete's was like a box of chocolates. You never knew what you were going to get. LOL!
But for $7.00, how could you complain?

Are you saying that he cut hair until 93?

We had a barber in town here for forever who you’d go in and tell him what you wanted, and 10 minutes and $9 later walk out with a burr or a flattop. Didn’t matter what you asked for, you got a burr or a flattop.

Another that I visited but never got a shearing at was in Stillwater OK. Old bachelor in an ancient shop with hair about 4” deep on the floor. He dipped Copenhagen and spit into the clippings on the floor, swept up occasionally, very occasionally. He was known for seeing college atheletes walking by and telling them they looked like they could use a trim, on the house of course to show his pride for the school. Once they were in the chair they got a flattop, regardless of what was in style! I spent an educational afternoon with him and my Ag teacher who was an OSU alumni.

Every time I go in.

Yes, he was in his shop four days a week.
Local legend. TV news did a story on him.

Didn't do a lot of business. I'd often walk in and find him sleeping in the barber's chair, holding a newspaper in his lap. Little bit scary, hoping he was only sleeping!

I quit for the same reason about 25 years ago. My old barber got too old and sold his old timey Shop to a bunch of fat lesbians.

I bought a pair of the cheap Wahl electric clippers. Bout $14 bucks. Buzz mine completely off without using any guard every two weeks. Have to buy a new set a of clippers ever two years when they get dull and start to pull my hair. 🤠

we have two around here. one had a sign on the door "no new customers" and the place was empty. i walked up, read the sign and split. the other one has an old dude who thinks he's hennie youngman. makes jokes at the customers expense while taking way too long to cut hair. i put up with it for a while but no more. since covid i have decided my hair will get cut once a year at the most at supercuts or whoever i have a coupon for. high and tight is gone. freak flag flying leon russell style from here on out.

Today. My barber is right at 80.

Hahahaha.
That's a familiar sight. Bless his heart. Still cutting hair at 93. He must be the oldest barber in your state. Mine was too. Cut hair longer than anyone in West Virginia.
He probably pays more in overhead than he brings in. Keep going and let him know how you appreciate him. Take him a letter once in a while and fruit basket.
He likely hasn't closed because he considers you customers his friends. All of his old buddies and family passed away, but he has you to cheer his day.

Any preference for a male or female barber?

Last week.

Women are beauticians and cut women's hair, do perms. Men can cut women's hair, but a man needs to go to a real man. And I m not talking about a limp wristed fairy tail 'barber."

From 1989 to 1992 I used to go to the El Rancho barber shop in Tucson, AZ. The youngest barber in there may have passed on by now, I'm sure the older two have given their ages at the time.

My Old Man was a barber for about 40 years, one of two in our small town. The shop was attached to our house, on Saturday’s I’d keep an eye out for any known gun looneys to stop in. Dad had F&S and OL subscriptions that I’d read the day they’d arrive. He’s 76 and is still my barber even though he sold the house and shop years ago. I have no idea what I’ll do when he can’t do it anymore.

Went to one in San Diego Tx a few years ago, just once on my way back from the ranch when we had it. Old Mexican guy, cut my hair with a straight razor. have a good barbershop in town I go to now, since my old barber Black Beard got locked up.

Those old timers are a dying breed
The new ones act more like flamboyant drama queens around here.
What I said to Jeffy goes for your 80 year old barber too.
He probably has a lot of interesting history to share after the hair cut if you have the free time.
A birthday card with an invitation to his favorite restaurant would be something his other customers never likely did. That would be a great birthday present. Or perhaps some time at a local fishing hole. Just a couple ideas. Ask him what he used to do Mondays on his day off.

My grandparents used to buy Christmas presents for their garbage man.

That's really generous of them. I hope he stopped by on his day off to spend some time and appreciation.

I just think that anyone who is still self employed from a ripe old age and provided a service does so for a reason. They genuinely care about their customers. The best gift to them, I've been told by my favorite old timer is time and friendship.

Women barbers will stick a titty in your ear, no contest. Vn. women barbers will give new meaning to "Brylcream, a little dab 'll do ya".


mike r

I have never had a barbershop haircut. My mom cut it when I was growing up. Then my wife took over when we were married. Now my 12 yr old granddaughter likes to run a number 2 thru every couple of weeks for 10 bucks.

2 weeks ago. He’s about had it though, health slipping away. I’ll miss you Tom.

Randy 's Olde Tyme Barber Shop

Just prayed for your friend. I hope he has many more years and haircuts before that final retirement.

The Wahl trimmer buzzes my head once a week.

Was handling my beard fine too. But had been traveling and went into a barber shop in a small town. He did a hell of a job. First time I'd paid a person to remove hair in probably a decade. Probably should spend those pennies more often.

grew up at swenny's barber shop. ww2 vet lose some right leg in the Pacific theater. Deer and rabbit hunter who cut our hair on Saturdays and asked our names and would charge our dad's the next time they came in. Old Ben hunted with a winchester 88 in 308 and a model 12 in 16 ga.

Today i hit Fitz's barber shop, a 1 man outfit, i bring in some beers and stories of recent outdoor activities. Get clipped and shaved and bullschit about life.

The Old Barber Shops ?

Main Street:

In the late 1940's in a small North Dakota town - The Barber was also the man who picked up the mail from the Train at the Depot.
When the train whistle announced it's arrival, the barber set down his razor and would leave some farmer covered up in the barber's
sheet, sitting in the chair, half-shaven - As the barber would run outside and down the street, round the corner to an old shed, open the two
swing doors, and crank up an old Ford Model T with no roof or windows, with a wooden flat bed behind the cab,
and go pick up the mail from the Depot.

Kitty corner, from the Model T shed was an old Blacksmith Shop. One old hardworking Blacksmith. Across from him was an
old stable. I asked what the stable was for - In town? I was told that in the winter they kept an old horse in the stable. When
it got too cold and the Model T wouldn't start. They'd harness the horse and hitch him to a wagon that was also in the stable -
And go get the mail.

Across Main Street, from the barber shop. was a Restaurant, whose owner, also wore a white apron. He was also the town Post Master.
When the Mail Train whistle blew - You'd see the restaurant owner run next door into the Post Office as he'd go unlock the back doors
to receive the mail from the depot. Every site mentioned here is about a stones' throw from each other,

I often had dreams about my town throughout the passing decades. I once dreamed that old Hotel across the from the depot was all
dilapidated, foliage overgrown, windows boarded up or missing. But some years after, the dream, I drove through the town and the structure looked fit.
- Made me feel good.

But some years later, I traversed through the town once again. The old Hotel looked like it did when I first dreamed it,

The depot's still there - I don't think trains stop there anymore, and probably haven't in a long time. But there are Grain Elevators there -
So there has to be Trains.

I think that old Depot is now a Museum ~ to honor the legacy of Peggy Lee.

They're not dead yet. 2 weeks ago. Including the straight razor for sideburns, over the ears and neck. (Worth the cost of the haircut right there.) Oh, I gotta always tell em to please trim my eyebrows. They started growing when the solar panel appeared on the back of my head.

I use to use one here that dated way back to the 1930s. What was really cool about it, not even considering all the old rifles on the wall, and the ones in good shape in display cases, but way back then, a lot of Hollywood types and authors use to come to this area to relax and hang out...

Zane Grey the novelist and Clark Gable use to come here to fish and hunt..There are pictures on the wall from back in their days, getting a haircut in that local barbershop here on D street, across the street from the court house, and of course they are autographed.. I forget a lot of other famous type that use to vacation here to get away from it all back before I was born.

Not at the Barber Shop, but Ginger Rodgers use to come to southern Oregon a lot and even owned a ranch here... When she died and her estate here was sold, they found a deer mount of one she had shot sometime around 1940 on her property. They rated the rack, and it beat any other, ever measured in the state up until that time. So after she passed Ginger Rodgers held the record of the biggest and best deer mount in the state of Oregon...

back to the barber shop on D Street, there are a lot of pictures of notoriety that use to visit our fair little town ( little back then), and stopped in there to get a haircut.. a lot of that memorabilia is still there... despite the barber shop being sold 15 or 20 years ago...

When it gets hot in Texas, that beard must be hell to wear around in Texas heat and humidity Roger.

you're a lot tougher man than old Seafire would ever be....

I went to a shop with a father and son cutting hair. No appointments just come in a get in line. I started buzzing my head about four years ago myself so have been in to see them. Ray’s BarberShop was the name although Ray was long retired.
When I grew up I got cut at Three Guys Barbershop. The smell of cheap Clubman cologne and Barbasol was thick in the air.

I grew up going to a small town barber.

Town only had one. Or you had to go to a beautician.

He cut hair one way, regardless of what you asked him.

Wasn’t high ‘n tight. But close. Straight razor around ears and neck line.

I started going as Lil kid. When he had to put the board across the barber chair arms. And flip it on the booster side. 😂

Good old guy.

Cut hair at the funeral home for free. Said he just couldn’t charge a family for it.

Coloreds didn’t come in his shop.

What’s this “hair cut” thing y’all speak of? Us bald guys want to know.

Monday

I started at a barber shop in the little town my grandparents lived in. He sold Mason shoes and always had a stub of a cigar in the corner of his mouth (never lit) Started out sitting on the board across the chair arms and went there until I was in my early teens. Like others have said, did not matter what you told him, you were getting the same haircut (very close to high and tight). Straight razor around the ears and neck and Clubman talcum power on the neck. He would let me and my brother go out the back door after we got our hair cut as that cut a lot of walking out going back to our granddad's farm.
All the old guys form the small town, would come in and sit around and chew the fat with him (kind of like to old Mayberry barber shop). Oh the stories a little kid heard......

If I were to go now, they would charge me a "finders fee" to cut my hair......lol

Jim Conrad is your barber?


That's a long drive for a haircut.

Come to think about, I did get a buzz back in ‘19 at a shop, they just charged me half price 😂

Black Beard, got caught on his bike after having a few beers, was on probation for a DUI, so locked up now. one chair operation by appt. only, could drink some beers while getting a haircut, or guys who smoke could go out on the patio and do that.

LOL, he does look like Jim.

Seems like I paid $1.50 for a haircut at the local barbershop, west central Ks, in the mid 60s.

Except Jim uses sheep shears and does bowl cuts, you probably don't want him chopping on your hair...

Last time a barber cut my hair was 1992. Just moved back to KY. My life time barber had gone up to $10 for a hair cut. Only having half a head of hair, said screw it. Bought a set of Wahl clippers from Walmart for $15. On my third set of clippers in 30 years. No shoe. Metal on skin every Saturday morning. Less than 10 minutes start to finish. And avoid an 80 mile drive round trip.

I've been cutting my own hair for about 15 years now.

Whenever I tell someone I cut my own hair, I always thank them for not saying "yes, I can tell."

When I was high school/college age, Dad had a neighbor who cut hair for a living. He'd stop by our house and cut our hair in the kitchen. One evening, he was about halfway through cutting mine when my Fire Co. pager went off. Out the door I went! He waited until I returned, and finished the other side of my now smokey smelling hair.

Last week - Don't usually go there as only has one chair and
quite a wait. Sometimes nearly an hour and my hair is getting
thin and only takes ten minutes or so to cut. However he still
has some outdoor magazines.
Old Cuss

been cutting my own for years now but still go to a shop once a year or so

Must have been 40 years or so ago.

About the time the Johns Manville plant shut down.

I cut my own about once a week for the last 21yrs.The last time I got mine cut at a shop with a barber pole was probably in the 80's.I remember my first hair cuts back in the late 1950's,they not only had a big barber pole,but a big wood and glass garage door that was wide open in warm weather and closed during cold weather.The town was established around 1900 and I'm sure that barber shop was probably built around that same time period.

There’s one just down the block. Ty’s clipper shack. Ty lives two houses down the street from us!

I have not been to a barber in probably 20 years. Bald folks don't need a trim. lol