Barber or Stylist

Ok, so we've got shaving all taken care of but what about that hair and the rest of your face? Get the low down on shampoo's, conditioners, finishers, cleansers, toners and moisturizers right here!
bernards66
Duke of Silvertip!
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Post by bernards66 »

Richard, "Sooo many roads......so many trains to ride....."
Blind Lemon Jefferson, I think....or maybe Robert Johnson.....anyway, yeah, you could definately say that....but then it turned...a...darker,...stuff that only a few, like Bargepole, would care to hear about. I'm 59 years old, I've been through a lot of stuff. Today, I'm a dreary burgher though, and, as you know, a dreadful curmudgeon....or so they say....hunkering down in this tropical swamp with other poor buggers like Dominic.
Regards,
Gordon
bernards66
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Post by bernards66 »

Michael, I'll have you know that I am NOT "giggling"! Chortling on occasion, perhaps, but NEVER giggling.....I am too dignified to giggle today, harumph!
Regards,
Gordon
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Lionhearted
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Post by Lionhearted »

There are advantages and disadvantages of living in areas remote from civilization. By choice I spent most of my life living in less populous areas — Arizona, Montana, Maine and now the Ozark woods. The nearest stylist to me is about 60 miles away. I'm not about to drive 120 miles and pay quadruple prices for a haircut in a place that's 90% a beauty shop.

I've lived in cities, Chicago the longest, three years, and I lived about a year in LA and NYC. I prefer deer, squirrels, coons and wild turkeys to human beings. They're much quieter. This means there are only three barbers and no stylists within 60 miles of where I live.

I've been going to barbers for nearly 70 years and never yet have I met an Italian one. My grandfather was a barber for a time first in New Orleans then in a mining camp in Wyoming. He was as Irish as they come. He went from barbering to dry cleaning and ended up owning a chain of 12 dry cleaners in four Midwestern states. I never really knew him since he died when I was six.

I never was a hippie but I had some hippie girl friends which was great, free love, no bras and all that nice long hair.

Richard
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hampsteronastick
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Post by hampsteronastick »

I hunted around for a barber that I liked and finally found one about a year ago. It was frustrating going to a place with half a dozen or more chairs that did have some good barbers but it was hit and miss. You could go 10 times and get 7-8 different barbers. I wanted a place with one or two barbers who were always there. Getting to know the barber while feeling comforatble in the shop was my goal. The place I found has two chairs, both made in 1960. The TV and magazines seem about the same vintage. In a year, I have only seen one barber there, the owner. Yes, he's Italian. There is a straight razor display in the window, posters of the Rat Pack on the walls, and Booster on the counter. Oh yeah, there is a hat rack. It doesn't get much better than that.
Dan
Daddy, why are you dipping the hampster in whipped cream?
It's not whipped cream, it's shaving cream.
Daddy, why are you shaving the hampster?
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Bargepole
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Post by Bargepole »

bernards66 wrote:Michael, I'll have you know that I am NOT "giggling"! Chortling on occasion, perhaps, but NEVER giggling.....I am too dignified to giggle today, harumph!
Regards,
Gordon
Aha. Denial. Dead giveaway. [SMIRKS, CHUCKLES, SCREAMS IN ALARM AT MONSTER STUMBLING UP LUDGATE HILL, CARPET TURNS TO SPHAGNUM MOSS ETC ETC]
Michael

People say it's never too late. How wrong they are. --Felix Dennis
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paperpundit
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Post by paperpundit »

My barbershop search ended about half a year ago. I've been living in the same area for about 10 years now, and just about every time I'd found a real good barber, he'd retire. Then I'd wind up at SuperCuts or something until I happened upon another barber. Finally, I just bought a clipper set. That's how disheartening it was...
Jack

"All you need is love, love...love is all you need."
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BlankTim
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Location: Fort Collins, Colorado

Post by BlankTim »

Barbers FTW!

There's nothing better than going in for my quarterly shearing and having them use the vacuum cleaner to get all the loose bits so they don't fall down my shirt and irritate me all day. \:D/
Stylists won't do that. :evil:

Also, they're far more willing to use the clippers to zap down the woolly growth above my eyes.
Stylists insist on picking at it with their scissors. Trying to be all dainty and stuff. They're eyebrows for god's sake! They grow back!

Straight razor shave on the back of the neck! 'Nuff said!

They actually remember who the heck I am and how I need my haircut for work. Now that's saying something, considering the two gents at my preferred shop probably work on 50 heads a day between themselves.
With a stylist, you're lucky to have your hair cut by the same person twice in a row.

It's a shame. "Traditional" mens barbers are a dying breed.
The two gents I go to are the only "traditional" barbers that I'm aware of in Fort Collins. Just like I can't find traditional shave products here either.
I blame the yuppies. :lol:
-Tim
...So I lathered him with me shillelagh...
notthesharpest
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Post by notthesharpest »

BlankTim wrote:They're eyebrows for god's sake! They grow back!
I knew a guy whose eyebrows got shaved right off (football initiation or something like that). They didn't grow back - at least not in the couple of years when I still saw him.
bernards66
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Post by bernards66 »

Jack, I've got a client who says there is a good barber right out your way.....and he grew up in Brooklyn, so he ought to know the real deal when he sees it. I have the name written down somewhere.
Regards,
Gordon
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paperpundit
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Post by paperpundit »

Well, Gordon...I guess I'd have to grow some hair to make it worth my while, eh?
Jack

"All you need is love, love...love is all you need."
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okie
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Post by okie »

I'm kind of crazy about this. I have been in Carthage, Mo for 2 years now. I have found 1 barber I can stand in Joplin, Mo. He is highly skilled, but no hot lather and shave. I only go to him when I can't get home to Edmond, OK. When I go home I go to a wonderful shop downtown. There is a father son team with 2 other barbers. The place is alway full and some of the best talk in town. I like to get by on election day even if I don't get a hair cut. They use some great products and shave the old neck and ears. I have been to stylists, but it is just a hair cut even if she is smokin hot. When I walk out of a barber shop I have had an experience. For me it is just part of being a man and feeling like one. I hope we never see the death of the Barber shop.
shave well look good
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kd7kip
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Post by kd7kip »

bernards66 wrote:Rough as hell on little boys, but he knew what he was doing
Last year I took my two-year-old in for his first real haircut. This is the same barber I've been seeing since 1989. I took my seventeen year old boy with me too-- it was going to be what we call a "Chap Day" and we were all going to be sheared.

Let me tell you, this guy is a pro. When it came time for Andrew (the youngest) to get his hair cut, he sat him down on my lap in the chair, showed him the electric trimmer, turned it on and ran it up and down his arm (the body of it, not the blades of course) to get him used to the sound and vibration, then started cutting. Andrew was whipping his head around, this way and that, the whole time but Arlo (the barber) never missed a beat-- like watching a haircut in a North Atlantic gale in Winter. Andrew's had 3 or 4 haircuts since, and is now a regular. He hops right up on the wooden box Arlo keeps for customers of his stature, and enjoys a Tootsie-Pop during his trim.

Hate to think he may end up at Super-Cuts someday...

-Scott
Dumb as a stump and twice as ugly...
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okie
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Post by okie »

I can only hope Andrew never finds his way into a chop shop. You are doing the right thing making a hair cut an event for both of your boys. I come from a family of barbers. My Dad had shops on airforce bases all over the country, cut hair at a local shop from time to time, and sold barber equipment. I grew up in shops. I used a few stylists as a teenager it must have been a rebellion thing. I started getting flattopps when I was 17 so I made my way back to the barber shop. My Dad may be gone, but he taught me so much I keep finding out the way he did things was the right way most of the time. Your sons may make some mistakes, but if we show our kids the right way I think they will come back to what is right.
Last edited by okie on Sun Apr 27, 2008 10:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
shave well look good
tmac4real
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Post by tmac4real »

For those of you that go to stlyists, like hair cuttery and stuff, what do you say to them?

I never know what to say to them. I just say 2 on the sides and handcut on top?

I feel like I'm wasting my money, because I get the same haircut when I'm 12 and it doesn't really suit my face.

Would a barbershop be any better?

Where can I just go and tell them to give me a haircut that suits my head/facial structure?
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Niceandcivilized
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Post by Niceandcivilized »

Anyone know of any REAL barber shops in the West Palm Beach, Florida area?
Image
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Aztecface
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Post by Aztecface »

I have been going regularly to a real barber for about a year now. I am fortunate that he also gives great straight razor shaves. Unfortunatly he uses American Crew's Shaving cream. I've been trying to convince him to change but he won't listen. He'll probably be around for a couple of more years before he retires and after that I have a Turkish barber here as well who also gives straight razor shaves. Speaking of barbers... tomorrow I'll be getting a haircut and removing for the first time in 4 years my goatee. I want to try and see what it feels like to shave my chin with a DE.
Regards,
Jani
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rustyblade
Shaving Paparazzo
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Post by rustyblade »

My wife is going to cut my hair for the first time this weekend. I can't imagine it's all that hard, I already have a nice Oster Fast Feed trimmer with all the clip on whatchamacallits. Scissors....comb...

I may even train her to use a straight to clean up my neck.

I'm not kidding.
Richard
Lou
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Post by Lou »

I prefer a barber. The first barber shop I remember was in a little mall near my home in the mid 70's. I unfortunately never got my hair cut there or at any other barber shop for years to come, because my father cut my hair in the basement. I wouldn't say he was lent to it. I was about 16 when I first went to a barber. Yes, he was Italian and spoke good English and a killer accent. I don't remember seeing him shave anybody. It was the Playboys on the waiting area coffee table that made me appreciate what a men's institution barber shops are.

I was a teen in the 80's, when hairstyles required imagination. I used to think it would be best to go to a stylist for a new hairstyle, then have a barber maintain it. The stylist never worked out; I'd invariably end up paying twice as much for a haircut that didn't suit me. Luckily, I found a barber shop staffed by a talented Russian family. Every cut I got there was first rate. That ended when I joined the Air Force.

About two years ago, I decided that twenty five years of combing my hair back a la Joe Pesce was enough. I wanted it shorter and to suit my thinning hair. I tried a stylist again, and it was another disaster. I found an upscale barber, and he gave me the new style I needed. I've gone back a few times, but $30 is a bit steep for a cut. The other barbers in my area aren't my cup of tea. As much as I tried to fight it, I ended up at Hair Cuttery. One stylist there does my hair just how I like it, and we have great conversations. I still want a traditional barber, but in the mean time I'll give credit where it's due.
hamsteronastick wrote:Oh yeah, there is a hat rack.
I look forward to the day - though probably in vain - when hat racks are once again occupied by good hats.
scruffy
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Post by scruffy »

I have gotten my worst haircuts from stylists. i especially hate the razor with the comb.

I have gotten my best haircuts from barbers.

I think the reason is that barbers have much more experience cutting hair.
Ed
honkdonker
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Post by honkdonker »

As a customer, just tell the "stylist" what you want done. I think their is a lot of supposing and misunderstanding here. If you just want a cut and not a "style", just tell them that.

I understand what you mean about the old time barbershop and a barber, etc, but a "stylist" can just cut and dry your hair if that is all you want. Just tell them.

[quote="Chaps"][quote="notthesharpest"]What is the actual difference, other than the sign on the door? I'm not being skeptical, I just want to know.[/quote]

The main difference for me is that I don't want my hair "styled". I just want it cut. That's all, except for maybe a shave, my ear hair and nose hair trimmed. I just want what we used to call a "regular" haircut. Another difference for me (and I can only speak for me) is that whenever I have gone to a stylist, i.e., Fanstastic Sam's, Sport Clips, etc. when I tell them that I want a tapered haircut or more specifically a high and tight, I get the "deer in the headlight" look. But whenever I have gone to a barber and said the same thing, there were no questions asked from the barber other than maybe how much I wanted to leave on top.

And for me, its not just the haircut aspect. It's the whole atmosphere and attitude of a barbershop as opposed to the styling salons I have been to. I don't want to offend anyone here, but men, I don't want a guy cutting my hair who has more makeup on than my wife. Now, maybe for some men, that wouldn't bother them, but it does me. Plus, I just like an older man cutting my hair so we can talk about stuff like WWII, old movies and such.

Danny[/quote]
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