Barbers revel in tradition
Despite poor road conditions and a heavy snowfall last week, Tony Sequette's barber shop was anything but dull.
Instead of trimming hair and clipping beards, the longtime barber and a few old friends filled the shop on Eau Claire Street, sharing homemade meatball sandwiches and cherry pie.
"We hang out here every day," said Tom Burnatoski, leaning back in one of the two cushioned barber chairs. "I run the place,"he joked.
Though customers walk in and count heads to determine their wait for a cut, Sequette said the shop regulars are as much a fixture in the shop as the antique cash register and barber chairs built with Armco steel.
"My customers are trained. They come in and say, 'You're (just here) for coffee; you're for coffee; you're for coffee, I'm next.'"
At Frank Lapa's barber shop in Grove City, a staff of three barbers share a camaraderie that makes customers feel right at home.
"All we are is barroom chat without the alcohol," said Georgi Long, who worked as Lapa's secretary for 10 years before learning barber skills as an apprentice to Lapa.
Barbers like Lapa, who pass their capes and clippers to the next generation, keep the industry going strong.
"It's not a dying business,"said Charles Kirkpatrick, executive director of the National Association of Barber Boards of America. "Everybody's got to have a haircut."
Though the striped barber pole still identifies the tonsorial trade, the shop locations, appearances and operations have changed to keep up with changing cultures and styles.
"They don't all look like a '57 Chevrolet," Kirkpatrick said. "Things change at the barbershop."
For Jack Thomas, opening his East Jefferson Street barber shop eight years ago was a life change.After leaving a career in the Marine Corps in 1992, Thomas worked in several other jobs before picking up the trade shared by his father and grandfather.The resulting shop reflects both Thomas' military-trained efficiency and his quick wit.To keep track of waiting customers, Thomas discourages would-be loiterers. Despite keeping visitors to a minimum, the shop is not lacking in personality."You want me to leave your ears where they are?" Thomas asks customer Ed Lloyd as he takes the seat of honor on a recent Friday.Like Thomas, Dan Fritch of Evans City has followed in his family's legacy of barbering.Fritch operates Eppinger's Barber Shop in Zelienople, the business opened by his stepgrandfather in 1911.Fritch said the majority of his customers come in for variations on a traditional cut known as a taper or fade."We seriously believe that a classic tapered haircut is best on everybody," said Fritch, whose stepfather Bill Eppinger, now 68, still works alongside him part-time.Working with electric clippers, Fritch trims hair gradually shorter as he reaches the neck. The technique, he said, makes growout less noticeable."The stylist creates a line. A barber does everything in his power not to do that," he said.While Fritch specializes in the classic cuts offered for years at the shop, Lapa keeps his eye on changing styles to please his customers, many of them Grove City College students."When the '60s came in, Ilearned to work with long and short hair," Lapa said.In addition to the pictures some customers bring in, Lapa and the two other barbers in his shop make use of instructional videos and attend barber shows to stay updated on the latest styles."I think we've been stereotyped that we just do buzz cuts, but whatever they want, we do," Lapa said.
While salons far outnumber barbers in the yellow pages, customers at barber shops are searching for a specific method of cutting."The older generation — they would be lost in a beauty shop," Fritch said. "A lot of guys, they don't want to go through dunking their head in a shampoo bowl."While working with clippers on dry hair is quicker than a shampoo and cut, Lapa said working with dry hair also helps him see how a customer's hair grows and how it will look when finished."It's a more natural way of cutting," he said.Other services customers might not find at the salon include the trimming of eyebrows and nose and ear hair, part of the grooming Lapa offers.Fitch said for his customers, the focus is on grooming, not fashion."To a guy, it's a haircut. It's about making it easier again."
While Fritch has carried on the traditional cuts his predecessors offered, technology has brought new conveniences to his customers.In addition to calling in for a 15-minute appointment, Fritch's customers can visit his Web site to see what times are available.Ahandheld computer sits beside Fritch's appointment book, allowing him to quickly update his Web site as new appointments are booked.The need for speed is a change Thomas also has noted among his customers."Today's society is an information society. It's an instant gratification society," he said.Though many like the ability to walk in without an appointment, he said some customers get anxious while waiting or even while in the chair."They don't hesitate to say to you, 'Can you cut faster?'"Many mornings, a large green arrow hangs from the ceiling, pointed at the barber chair. Attached is a sign that declares the barber working below takes a 15-minute lunch break at 1 p.m.Despite the warning, he said many customers are surprised when Thomas takes a break from waiting customers to grab a bite.
Opening before 7 a.m., Thomas has set a closing time of 4 p.m., though he is often in the shop until 5 or 6 p.m., finishing up waiting customers."I lock the door at 4 p.m. If I don't lock the door, they'll still come in."To recover from the influx of customers, Thomas has set a schedule of opening Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, allowing a few days each week to recover.His humor and skill have created many return customers who have begun to worry about the 56-year old barber's retirement."I won't even go to any barber. I just go to this one," said Larry Seibel of Butler, who visits Thomas regularly to maintain his "high and tight" style — a close, military-style shave on the sides with some length on the top.Like Thomas, Sequette's return visitors have set unofficial bans on his retirement."I can't close this place," said Sequette, who allows his friends to spend time in the shop even while he is on vacation.One such friend, Roger Henderson, said that his wife personally thanked Sequette for allowing him to spend time in the shop during his absence."She doesn't appreciate me being underfoot," he joked.Sequette doesn't mind admitting that he will never be able to retire."What would (Sequette's wife) do with all of us at her house," joked Burnatoski.
While many barbers and their customers see the hometown barber as an endangered species, statistics show growth in the industry.Throughout time, however, changing styles have taken their toll on the barber."In military time, short hair for men has always been in," Kirkpatrick said.He noted that popular culture icons like Elvis, and later the Beatles, led many men to start letting their hair grow longer and turn away from the barber shop.The change was reflected in the number of barber shops in the country. In the '70s, he said, there were about 195,000 barbers in the country, down from 340,000 during World War II.Kirkpatrick said growth resumed in the late 1980s and early '90s, naming Tom Cruise's role in "Top Gun" as one of the icons that led the change.Growth has also been strong in barbershops catering to the hair texture of African Americans, bolstered in part by the movies "Barbershop" and "Barbershop II."Today, there are 235,000 barbers in the U.S., and the number is continuing to rise.According the Pennsylvania Department of State, the number of licensed barbers in the commonwealth stands at 3,113, up from 2,899 in the 2006-07 fiscal year.While other businesses cut back jobs because of outsourcing and increased technology, the fields of barbering and cosmetology are unaffected."We manufacture what we sell," Kirkpatrick said. "We don't have to worry about anybody flying to China to get a haircut."
