Like most people, finding a good barber is important. They are not easy to find. At best, most (so called) barbers give decent haircuts. In other words they are not great and they are not horrible but finding a barber that gives you a really great haircut is not easy. For one thing they are all almost nearly extinct. I'm talking real "Old World" barbers. These days I see a lot of advertisements or reviews for barbers that call themselves "Old School". I think I know what they want to imply but it does not come close to the type of barber I'm looking for. The term Old School these days is just another term for "Hipster". Many of these so called Old School barbers are middle aged guys with beards or goatees and tattoos. Also I've noticed that if you cut hair and use a straight razor to clean up around the neck and ears, hang up some old memorabilia stuff on your walls and have a few old timer barber chairs in your shop, you can call yourself an Old School barber. Not that there is anything wrong with growing a beard and having tattoos but in my experience most of these Old School barbers are average at best. Meaning they are a dime a dozen. The term I prefer to use to describe the kind of barber I'm looking for is, "Classic" or as I said before, "Old World". There are definitely some clear indicators that a barber is "Classic" or "Old World"
1. They are old (hopefully not to old) within their 50's and 60's is optimum.
2. They are generally foreign born. Eastern and Western European are the best in my experience. They speak English or at least enough to understand your haircut preferences.
3. Their shop's name is almost always their first name, Walter's Barber Shop, Frank's Barber Shop, Karl's Barber Shop, Vince's Barber Shop. Not some catchy name and definitely nothing that says "Fade" or "Stylist".
4. Sorry ladies.......but a barber is not a woman. (Not that I have not had my hair cut by women before, and pretty decently at that too but usually they are stylists, and a really good one cost more than I want to spend.)
5. They always, 100% of the time have a barber diploma displayed. They were apprenticed and chose to be a barber as a profession and life career most likely from a young age, like a doctor or lawyer.
6. Most really good, Old World, Classic barbers charge between $15 and $20. No less, no more. Less than $15 and they are saying, I'm cheap because I did not study to be a barber. More than $20 and they think too highly of themselves or are really a Fufu stylist.
7. They do not. I repeat, they do not do any of these hair styles that shave, trim or carve a name, symbol or any other do-dad on to your scalp.
8. You'll find them in working class neighborhoods
Karl's Barber shop meets all of these points except one. He is in his 80's. Yet, I still would say on his worst day, he is minimally on par with most Old School barbers on their good days. Pretty dam good for someone in their 80's. Karl is charming and courteous, He's the kind of barber that could be closing up his shop and you walk in and he'll stay open just to accommodate you. His haircuts are $15 Mon - Fri and $16 on Sat. Never a long wait. I've never seen more than two people waiting. And yes, he does use a straight blade. read more
