Shave And A Haircut And Beer

The other day while my wife and I were driving around, we passed a barbershop that had a sign out front that read " Haircut and a beer-$17.00"  I immediately tried to fit the words of the sign into the old jingle of "shave and a haircut, six bits" For some reason I could not make that work. It just did not sound right.

I have never had a beer and a haircut at the same time. Perhaps it would be relaxing, but my larger concern would be that the person doing the cutting might be having one, too. Hmm, that conjures up some pretty hysterical images. There are several new barbershops springing up around the area, and it makes me wonder of the old fashion barber shop are making a comeback. I have not had barber clippers on my hair in many years, and quite frankly, I cannot imagine it. I must, however, admit that the old clipper look was very neat, IF the barber got the sides even. I say that for a reason, and, well, let me go back to the old days of Wallace.

When my father was a young man, haircuts were a luxury, and so, he went to school with shaggy hair. He often told us how he was teased and called " Long Hair. Now, I have seen a few pictures of my dad when he was in school, and while his hair may have been a little shaggy, it was not nearly as long as the hair styles of today. Nevertheless, the stinging insults left a lasting impression, and he determined that his two boys would have nice neat haircuts every two weeks. Now, I sometimes go two or three months in between cuts, but then, every two weeks my dad took us uptown Wallace for the shearing of his little lambs.

When I was growing up Wallace, there was a plethora of barbershops to choose from, but they all had several things in common on Saturday mornings. They were all very busy, and they were all full of men cussing and smoking. In those days you could smoke almost anywhere except for church and school. I remember when I was fairly young that even the grocery carts had ash trays on them! Can you imagine that in today's world?

The old barbers had menus on the wall that listed the services offered and the corresponding prices.Most of the things that were listed went unused in the hard rock mining towns like Wallace,with the exceptions of haircuts and straight razor shaves.. One thing though that all of the shops had in common was that when one walked of the shop, one certainly smelled good from the powder and the tonic that they poured on your hair in those days.

No, they never offered a beer with your cut in the old days, and I am not sure I will ever try it, but one thing that I know for certain, the women who cut my hair now are much prettier than Frank, George, Dick, and Al were.