The Barbering Way Erik Beck

The Barbering Way Erik Beck Analysis and Design Ideas Table of Contents The Barbering Tradition ---------------------------------- 2 Methods and Techniques ---------------------------------- 3 Implements ------------------------------------------------- 4 Creating Alongside Custom ------------------------------ 5 Implements ------------------------------------------------- 6 Field Research --------------------------------------------- 7 Barbering Process ----------------------------------------- 9 Grooming Workflow -------------------------------------- 10 Concept Mapping ----------------------------------------- 11 Semantic Zoom -------------------------------------------- 12 Temporal Zoom -------------------------------------------- 13 Barber’s Paradox ------------------------------------------ 14 Reframing the Topic --------------------------------------- 15 Insight Combination --------------------------------------- 16 Conclusions ------------------------------------------------- 17 Appendices 1 The Barbering Tradition The barber’s trade is perhaps as old as The tradition of barbering in North grooming itself. From ancient times to America has been concentrated almost our own, any civilization that has endors- exclusively around the shaving and cut- es the custom of cutting hair from ones ting of men’s hair. Presently, few bar- body likely had barbers living within it. bershops offer facial shaves, even though it is still considered a hallmark of the profession. Due to the advent of safety razors at the beginning of the twentieth century and the declining prevalence of beards, fewer customers require facial hair services. Most barbers specialize in haircutting only. The barber’s job mainly entails cutting, shaving or trimming hair that is on the head. Typically, this includes hair that grows from the scalp, the neck and the face. In earlier ages barbers were cus- todians of public health. They acted as dentists and surgeons. In Medieval Eu- rope they performed enemas, did blood- In recent years, barbershops have lost letting and leeching operations and ex- much of their customer base to cheaper tracted teeth. In ancient China, barbers franchise salons. Such salons are most- conducted fire-cupping treatments and ly staffed by people with cosmetology different types of acupressure. Other training, who cut hair differently from duties of the barber included lice remov- barbers. Loyal customers continue to al, cleaning of ears, draining of boils and patronize barbershops for the traditional lancing of cysts. techniques that are used and the feeling of authenticity that surrounds the practice of barbering. The way of barbers has changed very little over the years, and for men who value consistent workmanship and a tradesman’s expertise, the barbershop haircut remains the optimal choice. 2 Methods and Techniques The Style Barbershop haircuts, regardless of hair- style, tend to run very short in the sides and back of the head and fade to longer hair towards head’s apex and the crown. Precision and symmetry are heavily em- phasized. Whereas stylists and beauti- cians attempt to create styles that are dis- tinct for each customer, barbers adhere to a strict paradigm for how each of their haircuts should look. Many barbershop customers value the work of their barbers for its consistency and conformity to an ideal. The Techniques Haircutting techniques of barbers differ from those practiced in salons a several significant ways: • Barbers cut hair dry. Stylists usually wet hair with a spray bottle so that the strands cling together and are easier to grasp. Barbers prefer the hair to be dry so that they can see how it lies on the head. • Barbers use the clipper-over-comb technique to fade the closely cut bottom of the head with the longer hair on top. The cutting hair in the comb allows the barber to trim closer to the scalp than he might have using just his fingers. Use of the clipper-over-comb technique results in a nice, gradual transition in length from the bottom to the top of the head. • Barbers use compressed air to blow hair off of customers and off of instru- ments. It is important that excess hair be blown from the scalp so that the barber can see the hairs exact length and weight. To do this, he uses high-pressure compressed air. Stylists normally use the blow drier which tends to be too weak for this purpose. • Barbers shave. In most states, barbers are specially licensed to perform shaves with a straight razor. They can obtain this license only after completing courses on shaving, logging in a certain number of practice hours and completing a state administered exam. 3 Implements The implements used by barbers can range from being very few to very many depending upon the number of services that are offered. The basic barber station would include the following: • 110 volt Clippers – High powered for thick hair. Usually accompanied with an assortment of stainless steel guards ranging in size. This is the barber’s main workhorse. • Trimmer – Smaller and with less pow- erful than the clippers. Primarily used for the fringes of the hair, back of the neck (if a straight razor isn’t used) or for sculpting facial hair. • Regular Shears – Trade standard. Used for longer hair at the top of the head and enforcing symmetry during clean up. • Thinning Shears – Has teeth instead of a single, solid blade so that it cuts only a portion of the hair it closes upon. Used for reducing volume. • Combs and Brushes– With different sizes and teeth. • Straight Razor – Unguarded blade. The handle can hold a permanent blade that the barber hones and sharpens or a two-sided disposable razor. 4 Creating Alongside Custom It is not easy to devise novel methods and tool for a trade that has existed for millennia and whose basic practice has changed very little through the ages. One of the reasons barbering has maintained its staid longevity is precisely because of it resistance to change. Barbering is a tradition, and one could easily view any attempt at improvement as meddling in that tradition. One of the resulting deliverables of this project is a series of design ideas and solutions intended to improve upon and in some cases even reform the practice of barbering. But just as important, if not more, is the long process of investiga- tion and analysis which culminated into those ideas. If anything, this project is an attempt to comprehend and appreciate the barbering profession. The following pages contain dia- grams and interpretive exercises whose purpose is to contextual- ize male grooming in a manner that nourishes creative thinking. Data for this project was collected from 4 separate barbershops, all of which go about the practice of barbering in very different ways. Taking the best of each shop and combining it into a single narra- tive, this project aims to relate a view of barbering that is relevant to the profession generally. The conclusions it offers are not rev- olutionary or even unorthodox. They draw on design models found elsewhere in culture and on the tradition of barbering itself. They call upon barbers to revive some of the profession’s old practices, to reach out to new customers in new locations and to solidify the con- nection between the shop and its regular clients. Improvement of certain tools is suggested, and implementation of some new ones. Other ideas proposed in this project ask barbershops to consider revising their business model to better service a new and changing customer base. The hope is that barbers will not see the ideas expressed in this project as a challenge to the barbering tradition but rather a contribution to it. 5 Field Research A variety of research methods were used to collect data from four different sources. These were barbershops that the researcher visited in person. In some cases, data was collected through observation, in others through interviews conducted with practicing barbers. On two occasions the investigator actually purchased haircuts and document- ed the events as they unfolded. Transcripts of every interview and conversation were created and notes were collected documenting observations. (Transcripts and notes can be found in Appendix A) All of the barbershops visited for this project do business in various parts of Austin, Texas. Two of the shops were older businesses and were what could probably be considered “old fashion barbershops.” The other two shops were new businesses, and while they lacked the history of the two older shops, they offered a number of traditional barbershop services which the others did not. Birds Barbershop – Considered by some of the barbers interviewed for this project not to be a barbershop at all, Birds does seem to pick and choose what it likes about the barbering tradition while leaving out quite a lot. Birds is a popular place for young people to get their hair cut. It serves both men and women almost equally (slightly more men). The birds employee who was interviewed and observed for this project was trained as a styl- ist rather than a barber and used few barber’s techniques in his haircutting. Nonetheless, he produced a splendid haircut. Birds may look more like a salon than a barbershop, but it manages to accommodate one major con- vention of the old barbershop which none of the other shops included in this investiga- tion fully execute: with its well-curated col- lection of retro video games, complimentary beer and neighborhood atmosphere, birds is a place where people can congregate and socialize. It’s a barbershop where you don’t mind waiting for the haircut. 6 Field Research (continued) Pete’s Flat Top Shop – When asked how he would define a real barbershop, Joe, the head barber at Pete’s Flat Top Shop re- marks, “If you walk in and there’s animals on the wall, you’re in a barbershop.” Needless to say, Pete’s has lots of taxidermy. A sign on the window outside advertises “Regular Haircuts”. Inside an elderly man recounts his glory days on the softball diamond while sitting for a buzz cut. Honoring his request for “only a trim,” Joe cuts his hair for twenty solid minutes without producing any notice- able difference, the kind of feat only a barber with over 16 years of experience could achieve.

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