Thursday, February 05, 2009

Did You Know...

...that there was a Rolls-Royce of barber poles?

It's apparently called the Marvy Model 55:



Back when I had enough hair to justify going to get haircuts, I had a preference for old-fashioned barber shops, not modern unisex places like Great Clips or Fantastic Sam's. To me, a barber shop should include:

The owner's name on the sign or painted on the window;

A barber pole, of course;

Magazines like Field & Stream and Outdoor Life for the patrons to look at while waiting;

Real barber chairs;

Wooden booster benches so that boys could get their hair cut;

Hair tonic for sale, usually green in color;

Machines for dispensing hot shave cream;

Straight razors and hot towels for full shaves as well as neck shaves;

Clippers without vacuum cleaners attached to them, and old-fashioned hand clippers for use "when the barber feels like it."

And at least three barbers working. Fewer is ok in a really small town, but a typical Main Street shop in a typical town should have at least three.

3 comments:

Barco Sin Vela II said...

Put me down for the haircut with a Real, Licensed barber.

Less talking, more clipping, please.

Bob said...

I got a cut in Rota that was electricity-free. The Spanish barber used hand clippers and scissors to cut my hair, used a brush and a bar of barber's soap to soap my neck, then expertly shaved my neck with a straight razor. This in 1986, and he'd probably been doing it that way for most of his life.

Xavier said...

I only go to real barber shops. Along with your list, the barbers should be wearing the shirts widely worn in the Philippines, (I don't know what they are called)
Every barber shop should have at least two deer heads on the wall and a shoe shine chair in the corner.