Barber Shop Duet

I read this awesome article on the Art Of Manliness called Rediscovering the Barber Shop.  In this article is a detailed description of my frustration with most hair cutting places.  I'm not going to go into too many specifics, because the article says it better than I can.  But it is well worth the read, whether you are a man or a woman. 

So I told James what seemed to be bad news by his initial reaction, was that we were getting our hair cut at a barber shop.  Then I saw his disappointment, and further explained that this was a very manly thing to do.  So I looked for a place but couldn't find too many, especially in Statesboro.  I found a few African American ones, which I had no problem going to.  But I kept looking, and I called one called Cone's Barber Shop, I asked how much they charged, he said, '$8, and $9 for flat tops', with that response I knew I found the right place.  Only a manly place would have two prices, one including flat tops.  So off we went, I also wanted to add at least one more thing to the schedule, so I told James we would go look at knives at B&B Knife World, here in Statesboro.  But when we got there, it was closed.

So we got a quick sad face pic, and then we went to Southeastern Gun, they had lots of knives.

James really liked looking at them, they actually had some flint and chert knapped knives.  They were cool.

On to the Barber Shop, I drove by it twice before I noticed it.

I was loving the atmosphere, it was surprising, it was like walking into someones garage or shop.  It was obviously kept up by a man, and no pretty stuff anywhere.  There were pictures on the wall of muscle cars, jet airplanes.  There were vintage electronics, TV's and even a welder in box on the floor.  The barber was someone I recognized right away, I had seen him around town for years, and you can't forget him once you see him.  It was all due to his amazing mustache, it was a mans man mustache, long, hanging down to his chin, on the sides and over his bottom lip in the middle.   I started chatting with him about what we were doing today and why, and that I was writing a blog about my times with my kids.  His name is John Cone, he has been here for 31 years, his dad Henry was the barber here before him for 58 years.  Quite a legacy, and he has to be quite a pillar in this community, someone that been doing this sort of thing for this long, has to.  We knew a lot of the same people and he is an awesome person.  While he was cutting another guys hair, I realized we were going to be here a while, which wasn't a bad thing.  He was taking serious care to every tiny detail of the mans hair he was cutting.  Even to the eye brows and ear hair.   James was nervous, he wasn't sure what to expect or what to do, but John was cool and helped him feel comfortable.  Afterward he reached into a bucket and gave James some bubble gum.

He showed me a book, I can't remember the exact name, but it was a book that someone went all over the country visiting old fashioned barber shops and writing about them in this book.  It was a mass published book, I snapped a picture of Johns page,

While I was getting mine done, James made himself comfortable.

John did an excellent job, and James said his favorite part was the fact that this was a man place.  He had fun, later he said, 'he was really good and did a great job'. I finally had a great hair cut and never felt like what the Art of Manliness article described from those salons that weren't designed for men.  Which is what I always experienced. And a plus, I spent as much on James and I as I did just on just me in the 'salons' that always disappoint me.  Again, you need to red this article, it is very well written.

A Pretty Good Day!