St. Paul daily globe., 1885-12-27
THE BARRIERS CUSTOMERS.
some Of Their PecuIiarities and whc
They Are.


They Are.
New York Commercial.
There is a peculiarity about the busi-
hess ol barber lnasmuch as almost every
man Is actuated by desire to have the
same barber who has succeeded once in
pleasing him continue to shave him and
10 cut his hair. In most of the promi-
nent barber shops the proprietors have
regular customers who come long dis
tances and who oftentimes wait an hour to
oe shaved by their favorite barber. A we'll
known Broadway barber accounted for thesa
peculiarlteS OF his customers by saying that
they got accustomed to the attendance of
one man. Zone has tender skin.,' he
added, land needs to be shaved in a deli
cate manner. Another has heavy beard
and wants plenty of soap and sharp razor.
linen one man desires his hair cut short,
while another is subjected to colds and onIy
wishes little cut off. Then again we re-
tam our customers by their having private
cups, brushes and raZOrS, which we keen
mere and usually furnish. Several of nv
customers live and do business in Brooklyn,
and come over here regularly three times a
week to be shaved. l have gentlemen who
come punctually every day, whom I have
attended for fifteen years. Our business is
steady one the year round. Occasionally,
customer takes
A NOTION TO RAISE A BEARD
and copy the English, but after letting it
grow awhile he comes around again as
regular customer. Boards would undoubtedly
be popular, especially in winter if most GEN
tlemen could grow them, and they could
probably, but the process is a tedious and tire
some one, and Americans are too proud as a
rule to 60 around with unshayen faces for
three weeks, as it usually requires that time
to counteract the unpleasantness of beard
raising. Americans are great people for
wearing their hair short, and they have it
cut very often"
'sDo many people catch what is known as
the barber's itch, nowadays?"
mo, sir, not in this or any other first
class place. The disease is not known
among us. Of course skin diseases NAV bs
contracted by combs, brushes and soap that
have been used upon various persons but
we always regard the admonition, .cleanli-
ness lis next to godliness, and our toilet arti-
cles are kept clean and in frst-class con-
dition. Then as most of our patrons have
their own cups and razors, they run no risk
whatever. The only thing we are bothered
with are warts that grow in the hair. They
are very common. We frequently operate
upon them with nitric acid, which eats the
roots, and they drop out without materially
AFFECTING THE GROWTH
of the hair. [ have a customer that had a
nest of them on his scalp and it took me six
months to remove them. do not know how
to account for them, but I have hardly a
customer who is not more or less troubled
with them. Most of the gentlemen who
come into the shop wait until their barber is
disengaged, although they could be attended
to by another one just as well and save forty
or fifty minutes. They persist in sitting
reading the papers until their chair and
barber is ready and announces their turn an
being next.
''The baths which were popular some
years ago, and out of whidh we used td
make much money have been given up.
Most persons bathe at home, where they ara
not obliged to expose themselves to the open
air when they finish. Those who do not do So
use the vapor baths, which as you know have
extraordinary facilities.
Ladies are beginning to largely patronizs
our shops. Not so much down town as up
town, where BARRIERS in the day time ara
| usually idle. They frequently have their
hair cleaned and trimmed, and seem to pre-
fer men to women BARRIERS. Our gentlemen
customers recommend us, and after one
trial they always come again, or we attend
them at their houses. l have several lady
customers who reside in Brooklyn and New
Jersey. Their business is profitable, as we
usually charge them IS cents to 81 for
sitting that does not last more than thirty
minutes. When we attend them at home
we get from So to SIS. You will find that
the uptown barber shops are every day oc-
cunipd with fashionable ladies >,