Barber

Hairdresser
	Nikolaus Gysis, "The Barber"
Occupation
Names	Barber, hairdresser
Occupation type	Vocation
Description
Fields of; employment	Barbershops, hair salons

A barber (from the Latin barba, "beard") is someone, most often male, whose occupation is to cut any type of hair, and to shave or trim the beards of men. The place of work of a barber is generally called a barbershop, or simply the "barber's"

In previous times, barbers also performed surgery and dentistry. Today, with the development of safety razors and the decreasing prevalence of beards, in American and Commonwealth culture most barbers specialize in cutting men's hair. Many barbers may still deal with facial hair if requested.

Terminology

A hairdresser or hairstylist is a universal term referring to someone whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair colouring, haircutting and hair texture techniques. Many hairdressers are actually beauticians or cosmetologists. Barbers differ with respect to where they work, which services they are licensed to provide, and what name they use to refer to themselves. Part of this terminology difference depends on the regulations in a given location.

US states vary on their labor and licensing laws. For example, in Maryland, a cosmetologist cannot use a straight razor, strictly reserved for barbers. In contrast, in New Jersey both are regulated by the State Board of Cosmetology and there is no longer a legal difference in barbers and cosmetologists, as they are issued the same license and can practice both the art of straight razor shaving, colouring, other chemical work and haircutting if they choose.

In Australia, the official term for a barber is hairdresser; barber is only a common title for men's hairdressers, although not as popular now as it was in the middle of the 20th century. Most would work in a hairdressing salon.

History

The barber's trade has a long history; razors have been found among relics of the Bronze Age (circa 3500 BC) in Egypt. In ancient Egyptian culture, barbers were highly respected individuals. Priests and men of medicine are the earliest recorded examples of barbers. In early tribes, a barber was one of the most important members, as it was believed that certain evil spirits were able to enter a person's body through their hair, and that cutting it was a way to drive them out. Due to their spiritual and religious beliefs, barbers even performed religious ceremonies, such as marriages and baptizing children. During these ceremonies, they would leave the person/people's hair hanging down until after dancing; they would then cut the hair and tie it back tightly so that no evil spirits could enter and no good spirits could escape.

Before the Macedonian conquest brought the custom of clean shaving, men in Ancient Greece would have their beards, hair, and fingernails trimmed and styled by the κουρευς, in an agora, which also served as a social gathering for debates and gossip.

Shaving, either of the head or face, was not always a voluntary act, for it has been enforced by law in England and elsewhere.^{[citation needed]}

Barbering was introduced to Rome by the Greek colonies in Sicily in 296 B.C., and barber shops quickly became very popular centres for daily news and gossip. A morning visit to the tonsor became a part of the daily routine, as important as the visit to the public baths, and a young man's first shave (tonsura) was considered an essential part of his coming of age ceremony.

A few Roman tonsores became wealthy and influential, running shops that were favourite public locations of high society; however, most were simple tradesmen, who owned small storefronts or worked in the streets for low prices.

Barbers in the Middle Ages often served as surgeons and dentists. In addition to haircutting, hairdressing, and shaving, barbers performed surgery, bloodletting and leeching, fire cupping, enemas, and the extraction of teeth; earning them the name "barber surgeons". The barber pole, featuring red and white spiraling stripes, indicated the two crafts (surgery in red and barbering in white). Barbers received higher pay than surgeons until surgeons were entered into British war ships during naval wars. Some of the duties of the barber included neck manipulation, cleansing of ears and scalp, draining of boils, fistula and lancing of cysts with wicks.

Issues

Today, barbers have fewer customers, due to the fashion of growing one's hair out.^{[citation needed]} This has raised a problem and forced them to charge a customer more. Barber Sam Mature, whose interview with Studs Terkel was published in a novel, Working, says "A man used to get a haircut every couple weeks. Now he waits a month or two, some of ‘em even longer than that. A lot of people would get manicured and fixed up every week. Most of these people retired, moved away, or passed away. It’s all on account of long hair. You take old-timers, they wanted to look neat, to be presentable. Now people don’t seem to care too much."

Animals

The term "barbering" when applied to laboratory mice is a behaviour where a dominant mouse will use her teeth to pluck out hairs from the face of a passive mouse when they groom each other (barbering is practised mostly by female mice). If moved to a cage with other mice, the "barber" will continue to practice her job and pull out hairs from her new cage-mates.^[1]

References

^ Kurien BT, Gross T, Scofield RH. Barbering in mice: a model for trichotillomania BMJ. 2005 Dec 24;331(7531):1503-5. PMID: 16373730

Barbers- State of California, Employment Development, Labor Market Information Division, Information Services Group, (916) 262-2162. http://www.calmis.ca.gov/file/occguide/barber.htm

The Art of Barbering Through the Ages "Barber Shop" http://www.barberpole.com/artof.htm

External links

Barba: entry in William Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

[1] Kurien BT, Gross T, Scofield RH. Barbering in mice: a model for trichotillomania BMJ. 2005 Dec 24;331(7531):1503-5. PMID: 16373730

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