Things You Can Do In Order to Drive Your Barber Over The Edge

In 1893, the first barber college opened in Chicago, Illinois, followed by two more barber colleges in Iowa in 1899 and 1900. During the next 20 years, barbers began to be recognized as professionals who could trim men's hair and treat disorders of the skin and scalp. The profession was dominated by men until approximately 1980. At that time, a shift had occurred and almost half of all barber school graduates were women. Today nearly half the barbering work force is women.

Then in 1949, the silver screen exploded with a film version of the Biblically-based Samson and Delilah starring a stunning Hedy Lamaar as Delilah and Victor Mature as Samson, who fell for her cunning words and feminine charms. As The Bible says, Delilah was hired by the leaders of the ungodly nations to seduce Samson into telling her the secret of his strength. These heathen leaders only wanted revenge because Samson had reeked havoc upon their nations by killing people in the thousands. Delilah was patient and finally charmed Samson into telling her the truth of where he received his strength.

As Samson slept on Delilah's lap, the men who had hired Delilah were waiting outside her tent to sneak inside to execute the first recorded "buzz cut" on Samson who now was as weak as a lamb and became a prisoner of the Philistines to grind corn (like a mule) in their mill house. You know the rest of this story which I applaud each time I read about how God in his fathomless mercies, restored Samson's strength to bring down the two huge pillars that supported the Philistine stronghold thus killing thousands of people along with himself.

When a man in olden times made it known that his vocation was going to be a barber, he not only cut hair, but performed surgeries, dentistry, and other jobs that a village or settlement needed. There was no such thing as "specialized trades" in the early days of barbering.

The early barbers were even revered as much as a medical doctor as they had to know exactly how men wanted their haircut, but in early barbering, the men's hair all pretty much looked the same as to not have any "rebels" in the midst.

In the mid-1940's throughout the 1950's and early 1960's, men's barber shops (not styling salons) gained an image of "men only" as clientele. These male customers would arrive at certain times then sit and smoke, chew, tell off-color jokes as well as view the latest girly magazines that the barber had in the chairs for them to view as they waited for their haircut. Some of the men started "girl watching" through the huge plate glass window of the barbershop located in the center of town with pretty women walking up and down the sidewalk to shop or just have lunch with their friends.

True that barbers had to endure a lot to keep themselves calm and their nerves steady in order to please their customers, but here are . . .

Things You Can Do In Order to Drive Your Barber Over The Edge

• Loud mouth's and . . . "motor mouth's" can drive a barber nuts. A customer has no choice but to be still as possible while getting a haircut. That is unless this "ratchet jaw" loves to have gaps in his hair that cause people to laugh at him.
• "Booze Hounds" . . . although do stand in need of haircuts, but not while drinking. They can pass out in the barber's chair, slump over and if they are getting a old-fashioned shave, they can end up with a nasty cut on their neck. Not good.
• Men Who . . .use their arms to talk are a walking risk to any barber. Anyone knows that when you get involved telling a story and your hands and arms are moving up and down, the poor barber will take an extra long time to get the "octopus" customer's hair just right.
• Those Acting - - way too cool and laid-back to sit up straight can drive barbers almost mad. Remember, that men and women for that matter, were to sit up straight to ensure that the barber could take full-advantage of his barbering skills.
• Dancers - - who eat, sleep, and breathe dancing need to calm down before climbing into the barber's chair. A dancer, even a dance instructor who loves his craft, will subconsciously do unsteady dance moves he teaches and then the barber has to stop until he calms back down to finish his haircut.
• The Overly-Curious - - who at the age of 18, and contemplating a career as a newspaper reporter, can bug a barber by asking too many annoying questions. "Are you really a fifth-generation barber?" "Would I die if I ate that shaving cream?" Are only two of the seemingly-endless supply of annoying questions asked by the overly-curious that "gets under the barber's skin."
• Rubber Necks - - who seemingly are just cursed when it comes to turning their heads at the slightest of noises in and out of the barber shop. A head twisting back and forth can anger any barber and "some" short-tempered barbers born with a mean streak, may cut some profanity in the back of a rubber neck's hair so he will be the butt of mean-spirited jokes and laughter.
• Male Mannequins - - who are literally "cemented" into a perfectly-straight position. You would think that this is a barber's dream, but it isn't. A good barber needs to give his customers instructions like "tilt your head a little," or "hold your head back," to name two. And if the customer only sits in a stationary position all the while he is in the barber's chair, the barber may mumble a few ugly words while he is struggling to finish the customer's haircut.
• Bubble Gum - - chewers are as aggravating as cigarette and cigar smokers. Although today, most barber shops are non-smoking, but bubble gum chewing and the blowing of bubbles from the mouth is not a threat to anyone's health. Have you ever heard of "second hand bubbles?" So if you like bubble gum and blowing bubbles, do it outside and be finished blowing bubbles before you sit down in "Mr. Bolling's" barber's chair. Note: "Mr. Bolling was as close to a barber's name as I could get.
• "Chow Hounds" - - should finish eating prior to getting a haircut for two reasons: One, eating while getting a haircut will give you falling hair into your cheese and nacho chips and two, your jaws going up and down while you chew will cause your barber to have many "hairy" accidents on your hair.

And then there are men such as myself who never worry about angering our barbers. We give ourselves a haircut saving us hundreds of bucks and me? I only use one tool: a sharp razor to shave my head after a good shower.

No problem. No annoying characters spotlighted in this hub.

And best of all . . .NO annoyed barbers.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vascokappers-Haarsnijders