Posted on 09/25/2010 9:13:53 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Some salons offer women a complimentary glass of wine.
At Precision Cuts Barber Shop, men are offered a free beer.
As she shaved the back of customer Lee McKinney's neck with a straight razor, Theresa Duggins, who has owned the business for several years, said she tries to keep her shop in Land O' Lakes Plaza "as masculine as possible."
"Men are my bread and butter," said Duggins, a Tampa native. "We do cut women's hair, but we don't do any chemicals. It's strictly haircuts."
It's not that Duggins and her longtime employee, Samantha Molina, don't know how to do perms and other beauty techniques that require chemicals. It's that they don't want to.
For starters, they don't like the smell.
"I worked in a salon for a short time, and it was miserable," Duggins said.
Plus, she enjoys the challenge of cutting men's hair, which is more difficult, she said, because men's hair usually is shorter, and mistakes are more easily noticed.
Neither Duggins nor Molina were groomed to make mistakes behind the chair. Both women sharpened their skills under Melody Logan at Mel's Barber Shop in Land O' Lakes.
"She taught us attention to detail," Duggins said of her mentor. "Without her, I wouldn't know what it's like to be a barber."
"She would stop your client before he got out the door if you didn't do it right," Molina said. "You learned to do it right, or you would be embarrassed."
Duggins' new location at Hale Road and U.S. 41 opened about five weeks ago. For three years, the shop was in the Wisteria Plaza shopping center north of Land O' Lakes High School.
On a recent weekday, ESPN was airing on a television screen while a succession of 1980s hits - from Prince's "When Doves Cry" to "Don't Stop Believin' " by Journey - played on the stereo. Karaoke lovers, Duggins and Molina occasionally sang along.
The decor is intentionally no-frills. A Marilyn Monroe poster does hang above the sinks, but a vase of baby's breath, leftover from Duggins' recent wedding to Art Duggins, was removed when the shop started to fill with male customers.
"I am meticulous," Duggins said. "They call me the 'Barber Nazi.' If they're chewing gum while I'm trying to do their sideburns, I mean, you can't do it with their temples going in and out like that."
A self-described free spirit and resident of Lake Como Nudist Resort, Duggins said her older sister was a stylist, but she never liked the way her sister cut her hair. She started cutting her own hair at 12, and before long, she was cutting her friends' hair for free.
It wasn't until after graduating from Zephyrhills High School in 1982, and working first as a bank teller, then as a grocery store clerk, that a friend talked her into cutting hair for pay.
Although he declined a free beer, McKinney obviously was glad Duggins made that career choice. He has been coming to her shop for six years.
"She knows how to cut my hair," he said. "I don't even have to tell her what to do."
When she started in the business, Duggins said, some men would walk into Mel's Barber Shop expecting to see a male barber. Some even walked out rather than have their hair cut by a woman, she said.
Over the years, she has managed to help squash barbershop stereotypes; it may not hurt that each customer gets a hug before he leaves.
When it comes to her profession, Duggins has a philosophical approach.
"People say, 'It's just a haircut.' It's not just a haircut. It's your image," she said. "For me, this is about the love of the cut rather than the money. (Molina and I) both love to cut hair. It's like therapy for me. I can forget about everything while I'm doing this.
"This is like breathing for me. And they always say, 'I feel some much better now' after getting their haircut. I love hearing that."
WALK-INS ONLY
For information about Precision Cuts Barber Shop, call (813) 995-2884. The shop is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
Shaving the back of the neck with a straight razor? I thought those days were gone.
They’d get my business.
They could double their business if they went topless.
My barber does too, and they’ve got the vibrating things for your shoulders. It took a long time, but I finally found a good one. Fish & shoulder mounts, horns, bear rugs & hides all over the walls. American flag stickers on the mirrors too. Only thing they’re missing is the antique leather chairs.
Its run by two (conservative) women as well. Only odd thing is I don’t have much hair left to cut!
I just finished Last Stand Of The Tin Can Soldiers.
I have a new respect for destroyer sailors.
I asked my barber once - “What’s thd difference between a good haircut and a bad haircut?” He said - “About a month.”
my barber is old-school... steaming hot towel then a shave with a straight razor. I only wish that and a haircut was 2 bits.
It’s been a long time since I’ve had hot shaving cream on my neck and a straight edge to scrape it off. No barber in my area does that anymore. Too bad, because that was part of a real hair cut in the day.
My guy does that. they also do my eyebrows and earhair. And when I had a moustache, he trimmed it for free.
True barbers are a thing of the past. Most men would rather spend the cash going to a salon and get pampered. Me, I like my haircuts short and sweet.A good “Businessman” style cut is a thing of beauty.
That was a great book.
My Barber says “ If you have not had your neck shaved,you have not had a hair cut.” There was nothing better than a hot towel and barber shave with a straight edge razor. It was so close it would last for two three days.
Good article. I like when people like and are good at what they do. It shows in their work.
I used to go to a Korean barber in northern VA. He would use a straight razor for the neck after a warm towel. After the haircut, he or his wife would give a shoulder massage for a couple of minutes. Not much in the way of conversation, but man, those were the best haircuts.
I once worked with a guy who would regularly stop in at the local hair dressing salons to see if they had any new hairdressers. This was for his ongoing search for the perfect hairdresser.
His sole criteria . The size of her breasts.
Tin can sailors deserve respect. I was on a carrier in the Pacific in the seventies. We went through a typhoon with our escorts. We were walking on the bulkheads. I can only imagine what the small boys went through from watching them. They should have gotten sub pay.
Don't tell them I said so. If they get swelled heads, they will never fit aboard their ships.
I bet his name was Hal...Shallow Hal!
;-)
My husband’s squadron barber told him the difference was three days. But maybe hair cut to 3510 grows out faster.
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