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barber shop
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Tonic
Time
In a modern barber shop, you take the chair, and -- buzz, buzz -- the sound of clippers. In an old shop, you sit in the chair and -- blurp, blurp -- the sound of tonic. The moment of truth for a modern guy comes when he first takes the chair, and begins to sweat, hoping he knows enough barber code to get a good haircut.
In
an
old shop,
you weren't worried about the haircut. The barber was a pro.
You leaned back in the chair, relaxed and watched the game.
The moment of truth came later, after the clipper and razor.
"This is the time," a period barber manual explains, "to
suggest a shampoo, hair tonic, or any other hair and scalp
service."
At
the
end of the haircut,
the barber would pose the question, "Comb it wet or dry?"
The right answer was "wet," for a couple of reasons. One,
the barber would like to give you a tonic -- and maybe
convince you to buy a bottle for home use. "Buy your home
needs from your barber -- he has the best," advised a sign
on the wall; and two, he cut your hair to be slicked down.
So
the
clipper
part
was almost just a technicality between the two tonics. The
haircut might vary, but the pre and post actions were the
same. If you were already slicked up, he might skip the
grease and go right to the rake, combing and recombing to
find the natural part.
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Brylcreem
was the word on the street, popular since the 'twenties, and
now found in the back pocket of every long-haired greaser.
But barbers preferred Wildroot Cream-Oil, Charlie, and a
little dab didn't do you, you got a generous dollop, with a
second helping if your dad had just marched you in to get a
"man's haircut."
In
the 'sixties, Gillette invented "the dry look," and
proclaimed, "The wet head is dead." Now when the barber asked,
"Comb it wet or dry?" "dry" came to mean hairspray, previously
the province of bouffants, and "wet," plain water. Vitalis had
already launched a fierce campaign against "greasy kid's
stuff," AKA Brylcreem, "The best-selling hairdressing in the
world." But even Vitalis, with it's "greaseless grooming
discovery, V7," lost out to H2O and Aqua Net in the rage
for the dry look.
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