Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 May 1884 — In the Barber’s Chair. [ARTICLE]

In the Barber’s Chair.

“Will you have your hair cut medium or pretty short?" asked the barber. “Pretty short,” answered the customer. The barber then took up a nickelplated instrument and: ran it up the back of the customer’s head with a clicking sound. “This is a ‘clipper,’” he said. “I can shingle a man’s head .with this—cut the hair down close to the scalp, you know—in three minutes. Before we had this tool I’ve been an hour doing the same job. Last year we had the contract for shearing the American District telegraph boys. The man who did the work clipped 150 heads in five hours. I’ve cut eighty heads in a dfly myself, with only scissors. They were convicts. The clippers used to cost $5. Now we get them for $3.50. It takes ab’put fifteen minutes to cut hair as I’m cutting yours, and about the same length of time to shave an ordinary face and dress the hair. •Journeymen barbers own their own razors, but few of them know how to keep razors in order. They send them to the grinder’s about once a week. The boss furnishes everything but the razors. Barbers are paid $C to sl3 a tveek. Ajweek is six days and a half a day Sunday. There is also one day ofl every other week. In some of the down town shops barbers are given a commission on the work they do. Usually it is fifty cents out of every dollar they take at the chair and ten to twenty per cent, on the sales of brushes, soap, etc. There are about 3,000 barbershops in New York, and there must be 10,000 barbers. Very few of the shops have more than ten workmen, and not many have that number. There are fifteen to twenty agencies in New York exclusively for the employment of barbers. When a boss wants a man to whom he is willing to pay $lO a week he goes to an agent and gives him fifty cents and says he wants a No. 1 ten-dollar man. The agent also gets a fee from the workman. They make a good thing out of it. There must be 3,000 barbers discharged and employed in New York every week.” “Hair is getting protty thin in front, isn’t it,” remarked the customer. “ Yes,” said the barber, “ but you needn’t be afraid of that. Men seldom begin on the front of the head to grow bald. The crown is the place where real baldness begins.” “What is the best hair restorer?” f “Scissors. If the hair is cut often it will grow fast and the scalp will be healthy. Every man ought to have his hair trimmed at least once a month. He would not catch cold then every time his hair is cut, and it would keep the hair in good shape all the time. Is the back all right? There, sir. Please pay your check to the boss. Oh. thank yon. sir. Good night."—New York Times