10/11/2006   English German
  Edition # 63  
San Francisco, 10-11-2006

Traditional Barbers
Figure [1]: The "Barber's Pole", the sign for a barbershop

Michael When an American man needs a haircut, he goes to what is called a "barber." These are usually tiny shops, and inside there is a red upholstered leather chair with a footrest. An ancient, life-worn man holds scissors and a razor in his hands. In San Francisco, there is one who even plays the saxophone in his shop when there are no customers. Of course, you don't make an appointment with the barber; you just drop in.

A barbershop can be recognized from the outside by the so-called Barber's Pole. It's a vertically standing cylinder with white-red-blue striped spirals. The history of this symbol can be traced back to medieval times, when barbers performed bloodletting on their patients using leeches. And it wasn't that long ago that barbers also pulled teeth or performed minor surgeries with whiskey anesthesia.

The white stripes of the cylinder symbolize bandages, the red ones blood, and there are different interpretations for the blue stripes: either venous blood (as opposed to red arterial blood) or simply to distinguish between surgeons (red) and barbers (blue). Or simply to complete the American national colors, but there's no certainty about any of this.

The difference between a barber and a hairdresser is that the barber also shaves beards, although this is rarely requested nowadays. Additionally, the barber is relatively inexpensive; sometimes a haircut costs less than 10 dollars! However, the barber does not wash hair, as that seems to be reserved for the fancy salons.

Figure [2]: A typical American barbershop.

By the way, there is this budget chain called "Supercuts," which are hairdresser establishments that are also quite cheap and trim both men's and women's hair. However, Supercuts is the McDonald's of hairdressers, and I've heard that the training period for the staff is about one week. So, the quality of the haircut can vary.

My barber in the Italian neighborhood of North Beach is from Puerto Rico and lives in the South American neighborhood of Mission. He not only cuts my hair and shaves the sideburns with a real razor, but after the work is done, if he's in a good mood, he also straps a vibrating device to the back of his hand to massage my scalp with his now trembling hand. Very pleasant! However, if you talk during this, your voice vibrates amusingly.

Figure [3]: The barber gives the customer a traditional men's haircut.

A tip of about 20% is given at the hairdresser. In an expensive women's salon, that can quickly be $20-$30! And just before Christmas, as custom dictates, this amount is to be doubled. That makes the wallet groan!

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