Saturday Morning Haircuts

I don’t know how often Dad got his haircut. It might have been every couple of weeks to a month. There really was only one rule – it can’t touch the ears.

If you look back at pictures of Dad – he has the same haircut, same hairstyle since he was 12. Mine has changed several times. My brother has had a few too.

When you think of why a man wears a particular hairstyle, it is usually because it looks good on them. Men don’t change their styles often – not like women. Dad though has really had only one style.

I think a lot of it had to do with his upbringing. Clean and off the ears. It reminds me of something a farmer would have his sons wear. I don’t know if my grandfather made Dad keep his hair “off the ears” but I know the Air Force did.

Sometimes a look can become a habit. Dad’s hairstyle looks good on him. Dwight’s was similar (Dad’s identical twin). Maybe that style was in the genes.

Dad would pack my brother and I into the little blue “Renault” for Saturday haircut mornings. This has also become a tradition for my son and myself too. Be the first in line – don’t waste time waiting. We would arrive at the barbershop, the kind with the fancy spinning bar pole on the outside. It probably didn't spin, but I let my memory think it did. The shop was right across the street from some friends from church and not far from the parsonage. It was however a few miles from home, so we had to get up early.

This was the closest barbershop, but I think it also might have been the cheapest. Dad grew up on a farm during “the great depression.” You had to be frugal – or cheap. My memory has faded on the prices, but I think it started at $1.75. He probably complained when the price went up to $2.25. It would have had to be a really good haircut to be worth that – “off the ears and shirt collar too.”

It was more than great prices or the location that took my father and his two boys to this particular shop though. The barber gave “free” crew cuts to kids if there was a paying adult. Frugal!

For many years my brother and I had crew cuts. When I was a toddler, I had curly hair. It is not so curly now and mom blames dad for it - and the crew cuts.

I am wondering what happened to that barber – something must have happened which changed our haircut routine. He might have retired, been bought out, or simply moved. At some point, the barber started charging for our crew cuts. I think it was 75 cents. Dad might have been outraged, or just frugal, but we stopped going to that barbershop.

Dad bought some barber shears. Frugal? I think it was his keen "long-term investment skills." I don’t recall my father ever cutting my hair, but my mom did. She cut Greg’s too. In the summer we sat on a chair on the pink patio.

We still had the crew cuts, but they just “didn’t look like what the barber did.” Our new style was full of nicks and chunks missing and more than once we cried when we looked in the mirror. At least once my mom cried too.

I don’t think dad ever let my mom cut his hair – it turns out he was both frugal and smart!

- Craig