I thought I would share with you guys the experiences I've had with old school, traditional barbers. There was a guy in my neigbourhood who ran a traditional barber shop, my Dad had his hair cut there for over 30 years and he cut my hair from the time I was a little boy until I left Brisbane about 5 years ago. He was a Greek Cypriot called Harry (nickname 'Harry the Hacker'), an absolutely lovely bloke. His shop had an ancient barbers chair and always smelled of bay rum. He would have the ethnic Greek radio station playing constantly and a stack of dirty magazines to read whie you waited. When you got into the chair he would roll a smoke and proceed to puff away while he cut your hair , at the end of the cut, he would take a straight razor and go to the strop he had hanging on the wall and strop the razor exactly the same way every time. He would then shave your neck and sideburns using the nail on his little finger (which was kept long for this purpose) to clean the razor before dropping it in the jar of Barbasol. Then came the best bit, a liberal splash of bay rum. The guy gave a haircut you could set your watch by and I miss him and the experience of going to his shop. He'd be in his 70's now and I hope he is enjoying retirement on a beach somewhere. I am lucky though, in the small beach town I live in now, there is a retired Barber from Sydney who has a shop set up in his garage so I still get a traditional haircut with the straight razor finish (all for 10 bucks!) but it lacks the atmosphere of Harry's shop. I sincerely hope that a new generation takes over from these guys, because it would be sad to see this most civilised of traditions die out. Pete
Great story, Pete! My barber and I have had many conversations about the demise of the traditional barber. He works hard to maintain that tradition but they are an endangered species for sure.
I'm afraid all we're going to end up with are a handful of expensive specialty salons. I found a small chain in my area, but the straight shave alone is $55. Still, it's good to know there's something out there, but we can only hope that a few truly traditional barbers keep the torch burning.
