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I go to the same barber but only about four times a year. I just went two weeks ago to get a 'trim' and wasn't paying attention. He cut the sides pretty short as I requested but left the top about 8" long. It looked good from the front but I really couldn't tell much from looking at his shop mirror straight on how it looked from the side or back. I returned to the shop and had him remove about 7" of the stuff on top and told him I don't mind not having much hair left but I certainly didn't want a 'comb-over'.

There's not much left these days so I think I'll just go back to the 1/2" attachment on the doggie shears.... like I did forty years ago!

Your original post reminded me of a situation I had on a sales trip about thirty years ago... I drove to Cleveland for a business meeting and ducked into a 'Master Cuts' at a mall just south of the city. I used to wear my hair LONG and in a pony-tail. The 'stylist'... named Heather... REALLY screwed up and the left side was so short it wouldn't even make it to the elastic band I used for the pony-tail. There wasn't much she could do once the hair was on the floor! I DID NOT pay for that haircut and had an alternate 'stylist' cut the other side to match.

These days it's no more pony-tail.

I have been shaving my head for about the last decade. Every once in awhile, usually at times like this when the weather has been consistently been under zero with wicked wind chills, I grow it out for awhile. If I let it get long enough to need a trim then I prefer a traditional barber where I can walk in and ask for a high and tight and have him fully understand what I just said rather than look at me like I'm an idiot for knowing what I want.

My Wife cuts my hair, but I am lucky because she is also a hair stylist at a nice salon. I know it does require more hours to become a barber, which I think are due to the shaving for men, and who knows why else...?

Growing up I went to a barber, and over the years I tried out many different places for a haircut.
I think it comes down to finding the right person. Different salons have different thoughts on how to cut hair- Like tuba playing...3 people and 4 opinions!

I live in NC and to go to a place that used to be called 'The Barbershop'.
Turns out, the folks that work there got 'cosmetology' licenses and not 'barber' licenses (not sure what the difference is), so they had to change the name on the store front and take down the barber pole after the state 'regulators' threatened to fine them for operating as a barber shop without a proper license.
That all happened 2-3 weeks ago.

I will say that they know what they're doing with guys. They don't even offer styling for ladies hair.
I still go there, but I'm not sure which box to check on the poll since they're not licensed as barbers...

I go to a barber. Quick, cheapest in town, good work, nice selections of magazines.

My definition of a "Hair stylist" is a person who can give a wide range of hair treatments besides cutting, including coloring, etc.

My favorite barber, who had cut my hair since I was nine years old, had to retire a few years ago. I have yet to find another that cuts my hair as well, and in any particular style as may be the order of the day.

For example, when I had a flat top when I was out with my son's Scout Troop, I teased him. The next time I went in, I said that on the way home from my last haircut I was stopped at a construction site: the bricklayers needed a straight edge!

Another time, I had let it grow way, way, way, out in back (yes, shoulder blades length). Then my job fell apart and I had to go interviewing. I went in for the "interview cut," and he actually said to me, "Oh, this is going to hurt me worse than it is going to hurt you."

Cheers to bloke for finding a good barber for all these years. A good barber is, indeed, a craftsman of the highest order.

My wife cuts my hair. She has yet to let me return the favor!

The Big Ben wrote:I go to a barber. Quick, cheapest in town, good work, nice selections of magazines.

My definition of a "Hair stylist" is a person who can give a wide range of hair treatments besides cutting, including coloring, etc.

By this definition, the place I go is still a barber shop. State 'barber' licenses or not.

NCSUSousa wrote:

The Big Ben wrote:I go to a barber. Quick, cheapest in town, good work, nice selections of magazines.

My definition of a "Hair stylist" is a person who can give a wide range of hair treatments besides cutting, including coloring, etc.

By this definition, the place I go is still a barber shop. State 'barber' licenses or not.

Hair coloring, relaxing and cosmetics of all sorts have some nasty, nasty ingredients in them and a cosmetologist or hairstylist needs to know about that kind of stuff if they are going to apply it. Somewhere in the wayback of my teaching career, I tutored a girl to help her get a cosmetologist license. Basically, it was helping her read and understand the 2" thick manual for the test. I was quite surprised at what was involved.

Not sure why the people in your shop have cosmetologist licenses and not barber licenses.

KiltieTuba wrote: A few "barbers" have asked if I wanted a shave.... not with my long-*** beard... otherwise I would have asked for it!

When I used to have a full beard, I would try to get it trimmed at the barber/stylist. Very few knew the right procedure to trim it evenly and properly. I paid attention to the few who could do it right and ended up teaching the technique to more that one barber/stylist. These days, i just have a goatee and my barber knows how to cut it.

Over the last 12-15 years I've learned to always cut my own hair. I can't remember the last paid haircut that didn't suck (even before the Army); even the barbers at basic couldn't do a simple buzz cut and I had to pay those hacks. Now it's a #4 or 5 for drill weekends, 2 or buzz for longer training. More importantly, after July I can grow a permanent beard. Hallelujah!!

My favorite barber retired... the guy who bought his shop wasn't so good. Found another - he was good but stayed way too mad after a bitter divorce and he shut down.

Now, I'm stuck with xClips (Great Clips, Sport Clips, etc Clips) and they tend to run through staff monthly.

DW doesn't appreciate the costs of the shop where Barber/Stylists stick around.

Oh well...

Ricko

been to both and prefer a barber because they can use a straight razor to get things truly even, plus its just down the hill where i live.

I had an old-school straight blade shave at a barber exactly once -- on the morning of my wedding. The barber asked what I was up to that day, and I told him I was getting married. He said something like, "well, whether I slip with the blade or not, you're a dead man today." Yuk yuk yuk

I learned to cut my own hair my freshman year of college (1982).
I've probably been to a barber once since then.

Whatever you do - avoid a haircut from a central bank.

A set of cheap clippers costs about $25 around here. I have been trimming a #2 for quite a few years now. Once in a while, during the summer, I'll go down to #1.

I like a good barber shop, but they are hard to find. In fact, I haven't been to one in years, so I've just ended up cutting my own hair.

I've used a set of Wahl clippers for the past 12 years with the shortest guard.

I tried shaving my head daily for awhile. It was actually easy to do, but made my head cold. I also didn't like having "velcro head" where I had to be careful taking off shirts because some of them wanted to catch on the stubble on my head!

Prior to that, I went to a barber shop run by two old men similar to Bloke's and Curmudgeon's. A straight razor was a critical part of every haircut.

bloke wrote: fwiw, the shoe shop next door has also been there since before I was born (originally owned by an elderly Jewish couple who lived in a house about 500' from there, and currently owned by a couple of black men). Whenever I have needed tuba bags repaired and/or zippers replaced (and, of course, "real" leather shoes)

I had a few pair of shoes resoled in that very shop during my time in Memphis!

I said barber because you could only check one, most of the year I go to a barber, but during the hottest months of the summer my wife gets out the clippers and gives me a crew cut. Working outside I like my hair a little longer under my hardhat in the winter, and almost non-existant in the summer.