The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-06-29
A Smooth Shave.
The Lore OF a Detroit Barber Shop.
Detroit Post.l

lDetroit Post.l
mRove not from pole to pole, but enter here,
Wherenaught excels the shaving but the beer"
Old sign on an English BARRIERS pole.
The frequency Of the mystical striped pole
in this city would argue that the average De-
troiter was pretty well ''shaven and shorn."
Some Of these places are almost palatial in
their appurtenances; velvet chairs, plate glass
mirrors, china mugs, ivory handled toilet arti-
oles, and pomades and essences Of rare sweet
ness and virtues, with tony gentlemen of the
strop to handle your oountenance with mag
netic fingers and give you what is called In the
parlance of the shop q daisy shave, sending the
bcautified customer out into the world with
smooth face and redolent of rose water
In these shops the knights of the razor are
known familiarly as "The Duke" "Vander-
bilt, "the Commodore" "the Prince" etc.,
and the style assumed by the heroes of the
hone is something stupendous Most gentle
men have their favorite BARRIERS, and much
Jealousy is aroused by this preference; SO that
strange thoughts will fit through ones brain as
barber who has been sighted draws the gilt
tering steel over the jugular vein In the alb.
senee OF the favorite. A nervous man suffers
untold agonies In q barber's chair. If the bar
Der imagines from his customers disquietude
that he is In hurry he rubs his nose the wrong
way, fills his mouth with soap lather and
slices the end of his chin, jpst because the ner-
vous man cannot resign himself to fate-and
his barber. If he would Just lie back and close
his eyes and drift off into q calm 81 umber he
would have nothing to fear and no mishaps to
encounter; but II he imagines the possibility Of
the barber having an old grudge against him
or going suddenly insane, he must expect to
have his countenance dismembered.
Some BARRIERS are inveterate story-tellers.
One OF this class had customer whose fine
hair was source Of much pride to him. Going
into the chair one day to have 1t dressed he
was bored by the barber's interminable story
telling, and several times said angrily, "Out
1t short" When he came to look in the glass
he found that the barber had literally obeyed
him, and at ever recurrence Of the order had
cut 1t Short" but 1t was the hair and not the
story.
When talkative barber gets a man into his
chair he at once attacks the weak side Of his
nature.
Fine hair, sab, shampoo it?'
"Ya-a-s."
Delicate scalp. Bears grease, sah2''
Beard Bear like silk. Clean shave. saha"
".Bay rum or lavender water, sah."
"Bay rum"
,.mpstache extra long. Wsxed. sah9"
'O-n, y-8-S.
The customer pays for all the extras, and has
the satisfaction Of seeing his friends cut him
and the wife Of his bosom has him arrested as
an impositor, while the baby cries every time
1t secs him. An egg shampoo is one of the Gu
riosities Of the barber shop. Occasionally the
eggs are stale and the victim feels as IL he had
BEEN mobbed. The only good of the applica-
tion is that 1t requires bottle of tonic TO get
the egg out Of the hair. The bald man is the
most particular about his hair; he feels certain
that the barber can coax out good head Of
hair If he tries to, and the barber sells him
bottle OF restorative and keeps hope alive with
in him, even while tho top OF his Uranium is as
destitute OF hair as china egg. A lady bar
ber is one of the attractions Of the profession
In Detroit. She is a pretty German who has
shop under the Standish house. She Is
neat and jaunty and talkative, and makes
$2,0O0 year In her business. Her hands are
delicate and gentle, and she soaps the old boys
who occupy her chair as If they were each
willful child-and they like it. Her custom
ers respect her, and find that she can shave
them as scientifically as ii she were a man.
On Saturdays she stands at her chair from
O'Clock in the morning until IL at night, earn
ing individually from $40 to S12 during these
hours. She owns her shop and employs bar
bers at a percentage. Upon being asked IL she
could not employ female apprentices, she said
she had tried, but they lose their head and turn
giddy." The fair barberess is neatly dressed
and wears womanly allowance of jswelry
She says that she likes her profession and
does not see any reason why woman cannot
be barber. And why not?