Edwin Pawlowski said:Sheldon said:Quoted message said:I don't want the owner cutting my hair, whey should I be
inconvenienced by having to wait every time the phone rings or every
time someone walks in the door to converse about something... anyway,
these days I cut my own hair, there are no more barbers.
You need a new barber then. I use to go to is a one man shop. He never
answered the phone. Most callers would ask if he was busy and how long of a
wait. He'd hang up the phone and three people would walk in increasing he
wait by the time the caller got there. It was always an interesting time
with the group discussing sports, local politics, what is going on in town,
Ford vs. Chevy, etc. Makes me wish I had enough hair to keep going.
Yeah, well... a new barber is much easier said then done. On Lung
Island I went to the same two man barber shop for some 25 years, then
one day about a year prior to my moving I went for my haircut and there
was a sign in she shop window, George, the owner, had suddenly passed
away. Frank, his cohort was even older, found out later thazt made him
decide to retire. There were no real barber shops within 20 miles,
only "hair salons"... tried a few but discovered that hair dressers are
not barbers, not even close. When I moved one of the things I noticed
was that there was a small one man barber shop right in the center of
this small village... I got to enjoy one haircut and then the next time
I drove up there was a For Sale sign in the window, the barber had
retired and the building with all the barbering fixtures was for sale,
still is... it's a really nice shop but there are no barbers... It's
been listed now for more than six months, but it's a small building,
not suitable for much else, I've no idea what will become of it... I'd
love to have that old barber chair. Again I tried a couple of hair
salons, fergeddaboudit. No way I'm gonna pay $25 for some teenybopper
to butcher my hair. I happened to have a professional electric hair
clipper, bought "hot" in NYC years ago for $5, so now I sit outside on
my deck and do my own do. I have a full head of very thick hair but
for all my adult life I would get a crew cut, not quite military but
pretty short... the real barber would charge $7 and did an excellent
job. Hair dressers are much better at washing hair than cutting, they
can't do crews... I do a far better job myself. And like I said, there
are no more barbers coming along... if you happen to have one nearby
you are lucky. I used to enjoy hanging out at the barber shop too,
that's where all the local gossip was exchanged. Real barbers do
shaves with straight razors, hot towel treatment, and plenty of bay
rum, they do nose hair, ear hair, mustaches, beards, even remove
ingrown hairs... real licenced barbers are permited to even perform
minor surgery, like lancing boils, removing splinters, treating minor
burns, etc... just like the local pharmacist used to do first aid when
a real doctor was not available at the moment... the original EMT.
Sheldon
