I've been spoiled with good barbers. One of my earliest memories is going to Howard's when I was 4 or 5. The shop was right across the street from the Texas Tech campus. I remember watching an old cowboy -- boots, skinny legs, vest, handlebar mustache -- sit down for a shave. It seemed like a horrible waste of whipped cream.
Abilene had several good shops -- one a couple of blocks from my house. How do you know you're in an authentic barber shop?
- A shoe-shine stand that you’ve never patronized.
- A rack of hair products on sale that no one has used since 1967.
- They know how to finish a high-and-tight.
The high-and-tight is simple, but it has to be finished out with a straight-razor trim. South 14th Barbers in Abilene would also add a quick rubdown using a hand-vibrator on your neck and shoulders.
After such treatment (For $8!), you'd feel much better about taking on the world, and no one would ever mistake you for a hippie.
In Fort Worth, there are no olde time barbershops close to my house. I've been visiting a Great Clips in a strip mall a couple of blocks away. I have no problem with the cuts. But the service?
The haircuts are priced in a fast-food type menu above the front counter. The barber chairs are separated by pastel-colored sails, and let's not kid ourselves that anyone ever spent five seconds thinking about putting in a shoeshine stand.
Every damn time I come into the store, I'm asked for my phone number, so that they can call up my file and ask me if I still want a "two on the sides with a trim on the top."
Because you can't just ask me and I can't just relay the information to you in an exchange that lasts maybe four seconds on a slow day. You've got to bother me with my phone number and build a million-dollar computer network to let everyone within the Great Clips community know that I prefer a "two on the sides with a trim on the top" -- and still never remember that it's tapered in the back, not blocked. Freakin' brilliant.
Anyway, after tiring of this, I finally got online, started looking and found an "Old Time Barber Shop" (actual name) within a reasonable driving distance.
Great place. Shoeshine stand, wooden furnishings, free sodas and mostly bald barbers. I was given a complete high-and-tight that was finished off with a hot-towel rubdown on my neck.
The only problem was the price: $20, including tip. I realize that, considering the shop is in a prime real estate area in Keller, they have to charge that to make ends meet. Still, I can't but feel slightly chafed.
It's a definition of the suburban experience: I'm not paying for a trip to an olde time barbershop, I'm actually buying the experience of going to a place like an olde time barbershop.
I dunno. I'll keep looking, but so far they have a new customer.
2 comments:
Just ask my wife, I have battled the same Barber Demons since we moved to Plano. First it was Pro Cuts. Then, I found an old timey barber shop in the Shops at Legacy that charges $25 for "just a trim." Nice experience, bad price. Now, I too am a Great Clips patron. In fact, I have two within spitting distance of my house. I've noticed the two locations don't actually share information with each other. When I visited the second Great Clips they had no idea who I was. Some computer network...
Dave T says... In San Angelo I had to go to a Mexican joint where some of the barbers didn't know English to find a real barber shop. It was still cool, though I learned to not go on Friday or Saturday afternoons because the place would be jam-packed for Saturday night.
In Austin, I've got Pete's Flat Top Shop. It is a real barber shop, but the gentrification in the area has pumped up the prices: $17 for a haircut. Damn.
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