Saturday Afternoon Barber Shop Style. . .

With all of this talk about sports jackets, neckties, shoes, and the like, it is sometimes easy to neglect the fact that the stylish man, in a classic sense, needs to keep his hair trimmed and visit his hair-cutter of choice routinely.  Our son, The Young Master, and I were long overdue for haircuts, but life has been hectic since our return from Germany last month, and we have had to delay things a bit longer than usual.  We have become somewhat"shaggy" in other words.  That observations aside -- and it was one my late maternal grandfather, bless him, made occasionally when I was a child and teenager -- the two of us had a delightful experience earlier this afternoon at the Okemos Barber Shop in Okemos Village, Michigan.  

In a nutshell, perfect "short back and sides" haircuts for us both, nicely tapered with enough hair left up top and in the front to part on the left.  A pleasant, relaxed atmosphere with a very skilled staff, who are chatty but not overly so, and good with children.  They even shaved the nape of my neck with warm shaving cream and an old fashioned straight razor, which I've never experienced before.  No appointments are necessary.  Busy, but relaxed and friendly.  My wife, the Grand Duchess, while waiting for us, struck up a conversation with one patron, who turned out to be a neighbor to one of her colleagues on campus.

But back to the shop.  It has been run by the Zea family since 1963 and has been in existence for over 100 years, located in one or another of the buildings right around the same intersection of the village.  The lady who cut my hair, "Patty" the daughter of the man who bought the shop in '63, until recently cut the hair of the man who owned the establishment between 1937-1962.  He still carried his original business card from the late 3os (presumably laminated) in his wallet believe it, or not.  There was another equally old gentleman who had been getting his hair cut there since the late 1920s.  Both of those gentlemen have since departed for the great barber shop in the sky.  

Patty's brother, "Vince" cut our son's hair and managed to keep him still enough while in the chair to avoid losing the top of an ear in the process.  Last, pricing is very reasonable for boys' and men's standard haircuts, less than the salon where we used to have our hair cut in Central Illinois even with tips factored in.  Suffice to say, the Okemos Barber Shop is an old, well-established place, and we plan to return there for all of our upcoming haircuts.  If you find yourself in the East Lansing area and are in need of a standard trim, or even a full non-trendy man's haircut,  you should drop in.  You'll be pleased with the results

-- Heinz-Ulrich