Barbershop or "Salon"?

[Jst1mr]

For all of you still lucky enough to have a full head of hair - when it needs cutting, do you go to a barbershop or to a stylist in a salon?

For many years, I enjoyed the gossip and chatter in the mostly all male barbershop, learning where the fish were biting or where the deer were moving, etc. An "O.K." haircut was the norm.

Then I discovered something magical - there were places where lovely young ladies would gently recline you back and lean over you to gently wash and rinse your hair with true finesse (never fathomed that getting your hair washed could feel so good!). Followed by fussing over the "styling" job for a long time, and I could walk out with a cut that still looks good 4 weeks later.

Granted, the conversation is totally different, and it costs a bit more (especially since you can't help but tip much better), but I am an official convert to the salon.

P.S.: You can still get the man-gossip at the hardware store (and look at tools besides).

Where do you go when the mane needs trimming?

[deadin]

A buzz cut costs me $6. I don't think the barber thinks of his shop as a "salon".

[Old 44 Guy]

Same barber I've gone to for 10 years. He gives seniors 2 bucks off. Problem is I'm bald with half the hair I once had. I should get half price, don't you think?

[-db-]

When all the old-time barbershops closed up around here, I bought a set of clippers and taught the wife how to cut hair. I refuse to have anything to do with a "stylist" or salon.

[DR505]

I go to a great gal...she is a barber, and charges $5.

Went to a stylist once when I was a kid...older sister's friend. Didn't care how she cut and styled my hair because I was mesmerized by her overflowing tube top!

[chief38]

I go to the local Barber Shop and pay $14 bucks + $5 tip = $19 bucks. My son who wears his hair in the same style as me goes to a "Hair Stylist" and pays $40 bucks with a tip. We both go every two weeks and I keep telling him he's crazy to spend double - but he did say the "chicks" there are worth the extra fare! By the way, bith places do a fine job of cutting hair.

[Smoke]

I sit on a stool in the kitchen and the wife gives me a "Mighty Fine" with clippers happens once a month whether I need it or not.

[loutent]

I figure with the little hair I have left, my barber makes $100/hour on a good day.

[SAFireman]

Hot shaving cream, a really sharp straight razor and I am good to go.

I did try the SportClips joint for a few months after I moved (before I found a true barber). The view was OK, the vibrating chairs and hot towels were excellent, but I had a new 'stylist' about every two months or so and had to re-train them.

[STCM(SW)]

I cut my own hair for the last five years, saved lots of money and just the way I like it.
Then again, in the Navy so long that clipers with length attachments is ok.
I use to cut hair for money many years ago....
Plus I have my own shaving stuff for the back of my neck.

[Texas Star]

For years, I patronized a hot blonde chick at several salons as she moved around. She owned two of those salons. Did about 20% of her business cutting men's' hair. I knew her pretty well and we showed each other photos of our families, talked about almost everything, etc. She was...quite scenic. So were many of her female customers, seen as I waited.

But I can no longer easily drive to her current location and the price has increased to the point that I need to spend less on haircuts.

I now use a closer shop that has primarily female barbers, but just so-so looking and some over 40. I try to get coupons that get me a haircut at $9.00. Without a coupon, it's $14.00, which seems to be the average rate where I live. I tip about $3.00. There's a famous brand ice cream shop next door, an added convenience.

Other shops around here are mostly other chains, but have barbers less desirable than the shop I use. I can't comment further or I'd run afoul of the Rules here.

[old bear]

I've been doing the salon thing for 30 + years now. Whats not to like, a great hair cut, shampoo, neck and shoulder rub, followed by a manicure. Life is to short to have bad hair.

I can get all the man gossip I need at the range/GS

[Comrad]

Salon, mainly because there aren't many real barber shops left, to say nothing of the young lovelies jiggling various anatomical doodads in your face at the shampoo sink. One of these days I might just tuck her tip in there.

[Krell1]

Originally Posted by STCM(SW)

I cut my own hair for the last five years, saved lots of money and just the way I like it.
Then again, in the Navy so long that clipers with length attachments is ok.
I use to cut hair for money many years ago....
Plus I have my own shaving stuff for the back of my neck.

I also do it myself every two weeks over the bathroom sink. Been doing it that way for years. Of course it helps when you don't have very much on top and a simple buzz cut will do. All kinds of depth attachments to use and, if you go slow, you won't miss any of the few hairs on top.

[P&R Fan]

Back in about 1980 or 1981 I had my first real girfriend. I was 15, she was 17. (Have loved Older Women ever since). She wanted me to get my jet black hair, which only had a LITTLE gray back then, parted in the middle and feathered back. I did so, and the chicks all loved it. Have kept it that way ever since. I of course had to go to a female stylist to do so. The same one has been cutting my hair for about 20 years. I just go in, sit down and she washes it and cuts it. I don't have to tell her what to do. I give her 20 bucks. I never knew until about 15 years ago you were supposed to tip them. I asked her a few years ago how much a haircut costs. She just said "don't worry about it".

When my son was a kid I used to take him to the barber my Dad took me to. Hadn't been there for about 15 years. Walked in and asked the barber if he remembered me. He did. Still remembered the time my Dad took me in there when I was just a sprout on New Years Day. They had a punch bowl and I was helping myself. Finally he turned to my Dad and said "Uh, Dick, you do know that punch is spiked?".

Prolly the first time I ever got drunk.
Jim

[RussellD]

Barbershop.

A good barber shop is getting harder to find. A good barber shop that can give a good flat top hair cut is even harder.

[sophie]

Old style barber shop for me, now and for always.

[rwsmith]

We had a neighborhood barber shop in this wood building that stood by itself. Around 1970 one day my friend's father came home and his hair looked like the typical 'Julius Caesar' do. I asked him what in the world happened and he said the guy in the barbershop insisted on 'styling' it. He told him he just wanted a haircut, but no, styling was the way to go now.

[joeintexas]

Well the place I go and have gone for the past 13 years has a candy striped pole outside, a barber named A.C., hot coffee all day and seldom anyone under 60 years old waiting to get sheared! Wouldn't trade it for anything. I've learned more about politics, horses, hunting and '50s west Texas houses of ill repute than I could ever remember. And even some stories that might have actually been true. Barber shop here.

[3dots]

My daughter owns her own salon, licensed by the state. Needless to say, my "salon hairdo" is free of charge .

[Maddog 521]

I now go to the salon about every 3 months. I went to the only local barber shop in town. Man it was nasty. It didn't look like it had been cleaned in a long while.

[arjay]

I don't think I've been in a real barber shop since '67 or '68.

[shouldazagged]

Fantastic Sam's these days. I went to a young woman barber--she insisted on being called a barber, as she had had more training than a stylist--until she had two small children and quit work.

I'm fortunate to have a full head of very grey hair. Have a couple of operators at Sam's whom I trust. One is the manager. Neither is "scenic", but they do my once-a-month haircut to my satisfaction.

[raljr1]

I go to a young woman at Sport Clips. price includes shampoo, neck massage, hot towel on the face. and they will do a free neck shave between cuts

[Fishinfool]

The ex-wife was a genuine beauty school grad... So free haircuts for many years.

By the time we had divorced, the hair on my head was getting a bit thin, though seemed to be growing better than ever in other places.... I am sort of ashamed to say I cut my own with the old Wahl dog clippers with the #2 attachment.... Comes out about as good as it ever will..

Larry

[reddogge]

I go to a barbershop called "The Old Tyme Barber Shop" and get mine cut by Mike for $13 and $3 tip. Good conversation, nice guy. Two of the women cut mine once each when Mike was on vacation and they butchered me. The marine mom thought I should look like a marine and the other one blamed her bad haircut on my cowlicks.

[kozmic]

I had a truly great barber for years. I had to drive across town to get to his shop, but he was a gifted barber and every trip there was a totally entertaining experience. Everything you envision when you think of a classic barber shop from years gone by...apparently including a large bookmaking operation out in back. Tony got busted and I lost track of him a number of years ago.

I now go to the same vanilla salon as Lady Koz and Kid Koz (the younger). There are 3 middle-aged women there who do a pretty good job and I have no preference between them. Sadly, the experience is completely different. There are no hot towels or straight razor shaves, you can't talk sports or anything edgy, but hey, I get a Tootsie-Pop on my way out!

[snowman]

Male barbers around here are fewer and farther between as time passes; in fact, I don't even know where the nearest traditional barbershop is anymore. I suspect that that is a trend in most places.

Consequently I get mine done by a lady who cuts hair for both men and women. She does a good job; I have no complaints. However, it seems to me that the various men who used to do my hair could do it faster and almost by instinct. But, they're all gone now.

Andy

[jdh]

Saloon, wait, what was the question?

[snubbyfan]

My last haircut was in '93. I had just moved. On my way to a job interview, I went to a barbershop and told them that I wanted a short professional looking haircut. Unfortunately they didn't understand enough english to understand what I was saying and I don't speak spanish. I just kept telling him "shorter, shorter."
I ended up with a very unfortunate mullet.
After that I decided that I'm an American Indian, I'm gonna have long hair. If someone doesn't like it then they're just racist poopy heads. I haven't had a haircut since and I've had no problems with employers.

[sqhead]

my mom owned her own beauty shop for years,been retired for years,but I still go over there for a home cooked meal and a haircut,makes us both happy.............but if you guys want to treat yourself get a massage.............I get one a week and its money well spent.....blue cross allows 51 a year ( 1 hour )at 25.00 co-pay,great deal.

[Hodgin]

Barbershop.
Drakes Barber Shop - Home

[keith44spl]

Golly Gees,

I liked to have got scalp'd in a saloon one time.........

My Barber wears a Bandera straw hat, has handle-bar mustache
to rival any buckaroo anywheres........

And ya can still get a shave and a haircut in the same chair.


.

[JJEH]

The few hairs I have left I cut myself...

[sheepdawg]

Old time barber shop with a pole and everything. Only difference now are the barbers. They are all women, 35 and older. Three ugly ones and a fairly nice looking one who I think runs the place. The lady that cuts my hair is the ugliest one, about my weight, 285lbs. She can cut hair as good as anybody I've ever been to. Always tells me my you sure have a lot of hair in the back which I like to hear cause it's darn thin in the front.


$12 + $5 tip. That leaves me more money for golf, guns, gas, steaks, alcohol and most important....MY OLD LADY.

[BigBill]

My barber passed away. I break out the shears and go bald as it grows. I let it grow in the winter to keep warm.

[Buckey08]

I ride my Honda the 7 miles to the barber shop, Sit my butt in the chair get a half #$%^ hair cut and pretend I'm 5 years old and my old uncle Bill has taking me to Old Snip Snips, I would not miss that for the world! Long live Small towns, Old time Barber Shops and the time's when caring for other was the norm and being greedy meant having 2 pieces of pie.

[timn8er]

+1 to Old Bear! I haven't been to a barber shop in thirty, forty years. I don't know if its considered a "salon" if its unisex, but I'm cool with it. I'd rather get a good haircut done by a pretty lady any day of the week, & the prices are inline with what everyone else charges, so what's bad?

[Road Rat]

When I retired from the USAF and went to work for a civilian corporation and let my hair grow longer (late 1970's) I went to a salon and that lady made me look GOOD...I stayed with her until she left the state. I still stayed with salons.

I have been retired for many years and there are no "barber shops" around.

Last year my oldest daughter bought me a Flow Bee and there you go. About every month or so I drag it out and run it all over my head with a 2 inch attachment. Works for me and saves me $40 that I was paying the local salon.

At my age no one really cares what I look like.....cept the wife!!

[snubbyfan]

One of my favorite shirts.

[Donn]

An old barber shop. one of the last bastions where men could discuss manly things. If you had a problem around the house or with the car, someone there could probably help. Conversations about cars, sports and current events. The day's newspaper, an assortment of magazines, and a stack of comics for the kids. News or the ball game on the radio. All that and a man's haircut. Luckily, there are still a few around here. As long as one's open, I'll keep my man card and steer clear of the beauty parlors.

[Salty RI]

I go to an old time barber shop, walk in and wait your turn, the tile on the floor is all warn out from walking around the chair, I do miss the reading material they used to have, back in the day. I don't have as much on top as I used to, I tell him to take his time, so I feel like I'm getting my money's worth.

[Ethang]

My old barber retired, found another for a few years till he died of a heart attack. Lately been going to a salon, but I miss the hot soap and straight blade neck shave I used to get. So I tried a new one today named the Downtown Barber.....nope only had a beautician... In MI only a "barber" can use a blade of any kind.. I was disappointed and told them they should change the name.

[Llando88]

Sport Clips here in Tampa.

Ladies know how to cut guys hair, they do it all day.

Great cut out the door with tip for $20.

[PatAz]

Wife does mine, all I have to do is sleep with her.

[Muss Muggins]

I have three hard and fast rules about who gets to cut my hair:

He must be a man who sleeps with women

He must have gone to actual barber college, which in Missouri allows him to give me a close shave.

There must be a turning striped pole in front of the shop.

[shouldazagged]

Originally Posted by snubbyfan

...I went to a barbershop and told them that I wanted a short professional looking haircut. Unfortunately they didn't understand enough english to understand what I was saying and I don't speak spanish. I just kept telling him "shorter, shorter."
I ended up with a very unfortunate mullet.

There has to be an especially uncomfortable corner of hell for the twisted people who invented the mullet and the beehive hairdo for women.

[Dueeast]

$15 plus $5 tip. High and tight. Mil spec. shaves the sides/neck with hot lather and a straight razor, then tightens me up with witch hazel. Lets see a salon do that. When I want a pretty girl fussing over me, I go to my dentist for a cleaning. She looks like Cameron Diaz.

[rwsmith]

I had this really purty girl for years because she was the only one that could do a good job on me. She quit and her brother took over ( the whole family is barbers ALL over the place, kind of like Driggers Small Engine Repair) He was a riot and told great hunting and go cart stories and he did a great job too. Now I just go to plain old barber, whose shop is part salon, but he just does haircuts. And I'm glad.

[hoc9sw]

In my home town, there is the same barbershop, different barbers. Cost is $12 plus an assumed round up to $20.

Where I live now? The best shave & cut is a girl (proper barber license) who does a great job, but she wants $50 plus. I go to a lady at a "salon". She knows the routine, and does the cut at $20 all in. There isn't a barber pole in miles of me.