With their red, white and blue striped poles, dark Naugahyde chairs and razors, barbershops hold a special place in American culture.
But the numbers show barbershops are dwindling. Accordingly Census dataFrom 1992 to 2012, we saw a 23 percent decline in barbershops within the United States (with a slight increase in 2013).
As a sociologist, I find barbershops fascinating because also they are traditionally places where men spend time with other men and develop close relationships with one another within the absence of girls. Many customers even come by each day to easily chat with their hairdressers, discuss news or play chess. In these places an actual community, community, is created is very important for health and well-being.
So how should we interpret the decline of the hair salon? According to Robert Putnam, is it one other sign of this? “Bowling alone” our communal bonds are crumbling? Or should we actually pay attention to which men now not get their hair cut at a hair salon – and which men still go there?
Men with skilled orientation
As barbershops close, men's salons are popping up across the country. They goal men and offer them high-quality services, including hot towel facials and hand care (a euphemism for manicure). They're costlier than the common hair salon or chain store, have sleek, modern decor, and aren't exactly suitable for hanging out and socializing.
My book about these men's salons says: “Styling masculinity“Hairdressers described the hair salon as a disappearing place. They explained that men are searching for a pampered grooming experience that the barbershop – with its dusty television, linoleum floors and stack of automotive magazines – doesn't offer.
The young licensed barbers who worked in these salons also seemed disillusioned with the old-school barbershop. They viewed these newer men's salons as a “revival” of a “men's only place” that offered more “care” to its customers than the “dirty little barbershop.” And the barbershops that also exist, one barber told me, are “trying to be a little more upscale” by repainting and adding flat-screen TVs.
When I asked customers at a men's salon, The Executive, in the event that they would ever get their hair cut at a barber shop, they responded that they didn't fit the demographic. They said hair salons were for old men with little hair to fret about or little boys with nobody to impress. As professionals, they often felt they’d outgrown the hair salon.
A salon, then again, that focuses on detailed haircuts and other services – manicures, pedicures, hair coloring and body waxing – helps these men achieve what they consider to be a “professional” look.
A salon customer named Gill explained:
“Working men…they know that a successful performance creates an association with their clients, customers or others with whom they work – that they are smart and know what they are doing.”
Barbershops still matter – for some
But the salon patrons I interviewed were generally white, wealthy men. They just offered a perspective on what a hair salon is, what it might offer and who can go there. For example in my previous one Researching a small women's salonAs one male customer told me, the hair salon is a spot for the mechanic or “grease monkey” who doesn't care about his appearance, and for “machismo” men preferring a stack of Playboy magazines to a person's salon finery.
These attitudes toward the barbershop as a spot of yore, as a fading institution offering outdated fads, are each classist and racist.
For all of the nostalgia for the barbershop in American culture, there may be surprisingly little scholarly writing about it. But it's telling that research examining the importance of the barbershop in men's lives generally focuses on barbershops. The corner barbershop is alive and well in black communities and plays a key role within the lives of black men.
In her book “Barbershops, Bibles and BET“wrote political scientist and television host Melissa Harris-Perry about how everyday barbershop conversations are an important site for black political thought. Scientists have also shown that the black barbershop can strengthen community ties and improve the economy in black neighborhoodswhile also acting as a spot for young black boys to socialize.
You pay a premium for nostalgia
So as a substitute of asking whether the barbershop is disappearing, we should always really ask ourselves: where are they disappearing, what’s replacing them, and what social relationships underlie the emergence of the brand new men's salon?
For example, the hair salon is definitely making a comeback in some white gentrifying neighborhoods. In his article: “What the Barbershop Renaissance Says About Men” writes journalist Thomas Page McBee that these new barbershops function primarily as places where men can channel a form of masculinity that supposedly existed unhindered in the “good old days.” Sensory pleasures are at the heart of the experience: the smell of talcum powder, the cool burn of aftershave and the sight of shaving mugs help men come to terms with what it means to be a man in a time when men are Traditional definitions of masculinity are changing.
But these recent, repackaged barbershops come at a price, charging way more than the standard $12 for a haircut — a price that excludes a big portion of male consumers.
And so it might be that in a spot where tensions arise between ideas of nostalgic masculinity and a brand new sort of progressive man, opportunities for social equality may fall by the wayside. The hipster phenomenon is, in spite of everything, largely a white phenomenon, appropriating symbols of working-class white masculinity (think white tank tops with tattoos or the plaid shirts of). lumberjack), without actually giving up class privilege.
What can the lads's salon mean?
As we return to neighborhoods where barbershops are literally disappearing—and being replaced by luxury men's salons like those featured in my book—it's necessary to place these changes in context.
They aren’t signs of a decaying, bygone culture of masculinity. Rather, they represent a metamorphosis of white, wealthy masculinity. The barbershop was once a spot for these men. While the old model may now thrive in black or up-and-coming neighborhoods, white skilled men look elsewhere for a pampered experience.
And in these recent men's salons, they construct intimate relationships. But as a substitute of immersing themselves in same-sex male communities, they often develop personal, confidential relationships with female hairdressers. Stylists often explained this intimacy as a part of their work. However, for white men of means, the lads's salon becomes a vital place where they’ll acquire the sense of connection they could otherwise have missed in her life.
image credit : theconversation.com