“Another male bastion bites dust, but does it in style” from the October 2, 1975 Door County Advocate
Another male bastion bites dust, but does it in style
The old fashioned barber shop, that last impregnable bastion of male dominion, has, after years of determined assault, capitulated to the fair sex in no uncertain terms.
The newly opened Yankee Clipper is an example of how complete that surrender is. Female customers comprise at least half the shop’s clientele and a woman barber competes on equal terms with three male counterparts.
It seems that nobody, regardless of sex, wants a plain old trim anymore and the days when a bearded customer could demand a shave and a haircut for two bits have gone the way of the mustache cup. Today’s pampered clients are given the works. Their crowning glory is carefully analyzed (facial contour determines styling) before being shaped, layered, processed, conditioned, treated, colored, and blown dry.
Uni-sex shops are a whole new ballgame and reluctant as many barbers have been to read the handwriting on their back mirror, women are becoming big business with a capital B. The distaff side is willing, nay eager, to pay handsomely for equal time in the barber chair and, once satisfied, aren’t reluctant to spread the word.
Tom Jorns, owner of the five-chair Yankee Clipper, has been cutting hair far the past decade and for almost nine of those 10 years kept turning away potential female customers. Jorns ran an all-male shop, catered exclusively to masculine needs and was determined to keep it that way. The fact that the majority of men adopted the over-the-ear hair length a few years ago, thereby drastically reducing their appointments, deterred Jorns not one whit.
Then one day after he and his operator Joe Lindsley (also a master barber) had sat through a long dry spell between clients Tom turned to Joe and said “The first woman who pokes her head in the door asking for a hair cut is going to be my next customer.”
“If you don’t take her I will” said the equally bored Joe, and from that day forward a new trend was set. Women outnumbered, men better than two to one.
Shortly after that memorable decision, however, men began growing tired of long locks and started coming back in droves. Finding their sanctuary invaded by women was one thing but finding they were unable to carry on man-to-man discussions with their favorite barber without being overheard (or interrupted) by the lady in the next chair was another. Once again the men quit coming.
Facing the dilemma with aplomb Jorns worked out a unique compromise. He and his willing assistant decided to build themselves a five-chair shop where privacy could be insured by enclosing each chair within a booth. Jorns took over Jennings Rader’s old barber shop (once Greene’s grocery store and the home of historian Stanley Greene), hired Don Klapatch and Bernie Fabry to completely remodel the building, utilized Judy Schmelzer’s decorating expertise and Gary Gigstead’s painting prowess to emphasize the shop’s early American theme and had Don Johnson custom-build a bank of handy linen cabinets.
Moving from their Louisiana st. quarters last Monday, the two veteran barbers, accompanied by three new employees, opened their new shop with little fanfare but with a nearly full appointment book. Larry Kerscher, backed by five years of experience, and Margi Titus, a fairly recent “beauty-school” graduate with one year of practical shop training, staff two booths, Jorns and Lindsley man two more and the fifth will be used by a pair of part time operators whenever needed. Karen Alger does double duty as the Yankee Clipper’s receptionist-manicurist.
Jorns is particularly proud of his shop’s lighting (installed by K & L Electric) which clearly illuminates the working area while providing a more subdued glow for inhabitants of the waiting room. Each booth, Jorns proudly points out, has three large mirrors which allow clients an overall view of the styling process from the moment they enter until they leave.
Not content to rest on their laurels the four stylists frequently attend seminars to keep abreast of current and future trends and the men, envious of Margi’s beauty culture training, plan to learn what Jorns ambiguously refers to as “body processing.”
Body processing, Margi explains with a smile, is what she (and most people) call “a permanent.”
As the shop’s only female beautician-barber Margi can give perms as well as the customary “shampoo-set.” It’s only a matter of time, however, before clients demanding curls can get them from any of the four barbers.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
[author not stated]
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