THE BARBER SHOP
Sent from the parking lot of Lowes East Brunswick
The
neighborhood barber shop seems to be disappearing. When I was a child the local barber shop was
always busy. On Saturdays there was an
hour wait for a haircut, and the barber shop had six chairs. There are still barber shops today, but they
have two active chairs at most, and there is often no waiting.
Where have
all the customers gone? The population
has grown since I was a child, I am sure hair has continued to also grow. Who is cutting it? Many men have given up the comb-overs and the
trim in favor of the shaved head look.
Other men have taken to the ladies hair salon for a fancy wash trim,
style and blow dry. Children get their
trims or buzz cuts at home, or at “Kid Cut” specialty salons. Those that still opt for the traditional
barber shop go less often. I used to get
a cut every two to three weeks. I now go
once every two months.
I can
remember going to the barber and watching men get a shave. This shave involved a steaming hot towel, hot
lather, and a very sharp very scary straight edge razor. I have not seen anyone get a traditional
barber shop shave in thirty years. I
cannot remember when I last saw a “traditional” barber who was under the age of
fifty.
The local
barber shop used to be so popular, and the haircut/shave combination so common
that the famous seven note musical couplet often inserted comically at the end
of a song, “Dump diddly dum dum….dum dum” was sung, “Shave and haircut…two
bits.”
I still go
to a traditional local barber shop, “Luigi’s” in Metuchen New Jersey. Luigi has a two chair shop. The shop is generally busy, especially on
Saturdays, but there is never a long wait.
Luigi’s customers are mostly old farts like me, customers who don’t want the total bald look,
and refuse to get a cut at a fancy “Women’s Hair Salon.” My sister-in-law operates the best salon in
town, and gives an excellent male haircut or trim; at no charge to family, and
still I prefer Luigi’s.
Luigi’s has
a certain charm. It has a special barber
shop smell, a unique atmosphere and of course it has Luigi. Luigi is a bull of a man. He has worked his chair for over forty
years. His opinions are as full and
thick as his hair and his Italian accent.
Luigi has an opinion on everything, and it takes very little prodding
for him to voice his opinion. There are
never any arguments at Luigi’s. Whenever
an opinion is offered it is immediately agreed upon by all present. I think that is an unwritten Luigi rule. “That’s right”, and “attsa right” are the
most common responses to any opinion no matter how farfetched.
On Saturdays
some people come to Luigi’s just to kill time.
They come to chat with Luigi and I half expect them to pull up a chair
and play checkers. People stop by with
free food, sandwiches from the deli across the street which Luigi claims, “They
maka the besta sandwich in town. The
mutsarell is a fresh in a watt (water).”
Locals stop by to share a pizza pie, and Luigi always has fresh donuts
for all and lollypops for the kids.
On the
second chair is Luigi’s cousin, Mia. Mia
is a short lady with very big hair. She
wears shoes which add at least six inches to her stature. If pirates allowed
women on their ships, they would have looked like Mia.
Mia is my
barber. I am not sure how I was assigned
to Mia, but Luigi will not cut my hair.
I am Mia’s customer. I thought I
was special because Mia calls me Guy.
“You a nex, Guy.” Turns out she
calls every one Guy. Mia makes
ninety-seven percent of the conversation in her chair, usually an
interpretation of a dream. I understand
about fifty percent of her ninety-seven.
When
Spencer, my youngest went for his first haircut, one of the local kibitzers was
calling him a sissy because he was afraid of the scissors. Mia turned to this clown and pointing the
scissors at him menacingly said, “He no sissy a boy! How you like I poke a you eye out eh?” The
kibitzer shut up, grabbed a donut, and quietly left the shop.
I chose to
write this blog as today when I went in for a trim, Luigi was absent. I learned from Mia that he has been in the
hospital for two months with,
“A bile
thing that had a be a drain. He should a
go in a soon, but he a stub.”
It seems he
is on the mend, and will be back. Luigi
will return, but he is over seventy years old.
His shop cannot go on forever.
It will be
irreplaceable.
