Philosophy of the Barber
One on one conversations with barbers about their journey to and in the profession. Bree covers present day topics affecting the industry with cohost Cassy , as well as personal struggles and growth made possible by being a barber.
Philosophy of the Barber
The Barber's Chair as an Educational Hub
Ever thought your barber could double as a hair care guru? That's exactly what we're exploring in this episode of "Philosophy of the Barber." We promise you'll walk away with a fresh perspective on the role barbers play in client education, debunking common hair care myths while weaving in science and humor. From the necessity of using separate shampoo and conditioner bottles to understanding pH balance, we tackle misconceptions head-on. Let's not forget those marketing myths that have confused us all—consider them busted as we bring clarity with relatable analogies and anecdotes.
Imagine the barber's chair as a place of unexpected discovery and educational exchanges. We share humorous, real-life tales of barbers spotting health concerns, like skin conditions or hair growth issues, prompting crucial client visits to specialists. Our stories capture the dynamic interactions that happen daily, such as teaching dads to untangle the mysteries of their daughters' hair. It's not just haircuts and style; it's about fostering health awareness and learning unexpected life tips from clients themselves, all while keeping things light and enjoyable.
As the beauty industry evolves, so does the conversation about specialization and regulations. We highlight the importance of mastering basic skills before branching into niche areas like color specialization or hair replacement systems. Our discussion reveals the complexities of overlapping certifications and the fine line between medical and beauty services. Tackling the unique challenges of curly hair care for men, we offer practical advice on managing frizz and enhancing natural curls, all while seasoning with cultural references that resonate across generations. We're not just about cutting hair; we're about crafting an inclusive, fun, and deeply educational experience for everyone who joins us in the barber's chair.
Welcome back to Philosophy of the Barber. Hello Cassie, Hello hello. Today let's hop right into it and discuss the education of clients and how important it is.
Cassy:Yes, and how. It's our responsibility as professionals in this business to make sure our clients are educated in the ways of their hair.
Cassy:Well, especially with like the basic things that we have to repeat over and over and over again to everybody, whoever sits in our chair, like the importance of shampoo and conditioner from separate bottles yes, or using conditioner at all number one, yes, but then also that it does need to be in a different bottle than the shampoo, I appreciate when clients seek out information because obviously we don't know what they don't know, and I've gotten a lot of questions lately from some of my clients on how often I should they should wash their hair and I feel like it's basics like that that especially men usually don't know, Cause it's not like you're really teaching hair care, especially when most boys have really really short hair when they're young.
Bree:It does make me a little sad, though, and it's not just boys Like oh no, yeah, I didn't get a whole lot of attention as being the youngest of three girls, like I learned how to put my hair up or half up, yep, or wear it down, never learned how to braid, never learned like so many things. How to you know, comb your hair without ripping it out when it came to tangles. Nobody ever taught me those things.
Cassy:Yeah, I didn't learn the proper way of technically brushing my hair until I went to cosmetology school Same, and I was like, oh, I shouldn't start at the base and just rip aggressively while it's wet, fresh out of the shower.
Bree:Yeah, until it just tears out. Well, and that's the thing. Like, until you go through hair school, there's so much you have no idea is a thing. And I think companies, the way they market commercials and stuff, they also don't help anybody. Oh, this will help repair your hair follicle. That's not a follicle. Follicle is a hole the hair comes out of, not the hair shaft. But no marketing team wants to use the word shaft on cable tv.
Cassy:It's fair the hair shaft probably not be the best technical term I know. Instead, you get improper follicles yep. I feel like conditioner is definitely proper follicles Yep. I feel like conditioner is definitely one thing that a lot of people don't know is super helpful to the hair.
Bree:Well, yeah, especially if they don't end up being in a career where understanding the application of pH is important.
Cassy:Yeah.
Bree:Cause. I mean, I remember learning about the ph scale in high school, but like it didn't stick.
Cassy:Yeah well, I remember learning about it, but not in the context of like our bodies and like skin and stuff. We learned about it and like for the term of what it was, but not like how it affects our day-to-day life right, right.
Bree:Definitely we didn't deal with it with like day-to-day objects.
Cassy:Yeah.
Bree:Uh, we were like, as it relates to the periodic table that sort of thing which is like whatever in one ear out the other, just hold on to it for the test.
Cassy:Yeah, yeah yeah.
Bree:But yeah, it wasn't until barber school that it was like, oh okay, I get this now, was like, oh okay, I get this now. And then it made fight club make a little bit more sense to me from the soap making aspect. Oh yeah, I like being able to relate material to things like that are already well known, because then it makes it easier to teach people and educate them. So it's like.
Bree:If I can explain how the galvanic current machine that I can use on facial procedures works to people with using fight club, then that's what I'm gonna do yeah, yeah, yeah because then it's approachable and you don't sound too like. You know you run the risk of making somebody feel bad or uneducated if you use too many technical terms. Yes, and you're just. Their eyes glaze over and they're just like are you just like flexing on me how?
Cassy:much.
Bree:you know right now, yeah, yeah, Like I want to make stuff approachable so that they understand. Yeah, that, like this, is kind of cool. And same thing with explaining the concept of conditioner. People's like comparing it to something they already do.
Bree:Like people was like comparing it to something they already do, like most guys shave. So it's like, think shampoo conditioner, think shaving cream after shave, same kind of like ph balancing concept. Yeah, I was educating somebody today because it came up in conversation about the difference in types of hair color for gray coverage, because he had friends who were trying to like pressure him into uh, coloring his hair and beard. Because they do it, but like they do it every week, because it only lasts the fresh color for like a day and a half, you know, because they're buying box dye. Yeah, because they don't know that using hot water is going to make it fall out faster, using regular soap is going to make it fall out faster, and all of those things, especially in hair which is already really porous.
Cassy:Yeah, which already doesn't want that color in there in the first place?
Bree:Yeah, and you kind of have a weird balancing act. If it's really porous it could grab quick, but it could fall out quick.
Cassy:Yeah, exactly, it's like a hot potato.
Bree:How many people condition their beard Vers condition their beard Versus how many people should condition their beard? So all those things that I was educating him on he's like I'm not going to tell him any of this. You can just hold that information for yourself. I enjoy that. I had a client not that long ago who's been in my chair for like ten years Only, like when he was starting to or noticing he had an issue with his scalp that he asked me about, like shampoo or anything about the scalp and I'm like how often do you use conditioner, all this stuff he's like?
Bree:and I told him the conditioner thing he's like and I assumed that at some point in my chair I told him this and he's like no, we've never had this conversation. I'm like, oh well, better late than never. How have we not? How have you avoided this? How have you only asked me now for my advice? So obviously I put the blame on him, not me absolutely, I feel like it's also.
Cassy:Sometimes I feel like I overstep and make certain clients feel worried when it's not my intention. But like I also feel like it's my responsibility to educate them. When I see something on their scalp, whether it be a lump, a bump, something, just I've never especially my regulars, if I've not noticed it before I always like to try and say something and a couple times like me saying something one. Most of the time they have no idea what I'm referring to and it's usually I pose it in the in the term, depending on what it is of. Like does this irritate you? With my clipper going over it. Because, like I don't want to just assume that they know, but also don't want to assume that they don't know, because if it is irritating or like if it's something that they're self-conscious of or whatever, I don't want to just directly be like oh, what is this? And there's been a couple instances where it's led to like that ended up being something like that needed to be taken care of by a doctor and like needed to be seen.
Cassy:Nothing like cancerous or anything but like skin irritations. One guy ended up having ringworm on the side and back side of his ear and stuff, like just all kinds of stuff. One guy recently, I think what's causing it is from his hats, because he's having an irritation. That's like almost exactly where his hat line would sit and I was like do you wash your? Wash your hats ever? I was like, or do you usually wear the same hat all the time? He's like, oh, I've never washed my hats. I said, maybe wash your hats.
Bree:I had that same conversation last week.
Cassy:Just throw them in the dishwasher, it'll be great.
Bree:Yeah, that is definitely a subject, especially with men, that needs to be like hey, same thing with, like, gaming headphones.
Cassy:Yeah, yeah, it's like those cups, like you need to clean them, for sure you're.
Bree:Sometimes you get amped up and you're sweating in those things gaming can get serious, or like replace them every so often, especially if you like they're starting to crack. All right, then bacteria's gonna just chill in there.
Cassy:Oh yeah, the gentleman that had the ringworm behind his ear and stuff. He they use headsets at his work Like walkie-talkie headsets and I was like does anybody disinfect those between use? He was like, honestly, I have no idea. I was like that's your problem, right there.
Bree:That's unfortunate yeah.
Cassy:Speaking of gaming headphones, though, I had this kid at my first shop that for the longest time I thought it was just like a weird kind of way the hair grew right there. But one day I finally like couldn't understand this spot on the back side of his head, kind of like tucked behind his ear, just like would. It was so difficult to cut compared to the rest of the hair, just didn't want to come up under the clipper. It was just very impressed to the head and I was just like what is happening back here? I was like, do you sleep on one side of your head or something just really good? And he feels back there and he was like, oh, that's where my gaming headphones sit. So he's got one ear on and the other ear back here and it just all the time has pressed the hair against his head to the point where it just would not lift up. I'm like I'd have to go over it again and again. I'd take my comb and brush it upward. I'm like what is happening?
Cassy:It was in there.
Bree:Get that hair dryer out, break those hair bonds. There's so many instances of just like oh hey, well, even one of my customers today. We've kind of like over the years figured out that, like he, when he first started coming to the shop he had really bad psoriasis, like really bad, and we're talking like well, it doesn't even look like plaque psoriasis, where it's like there's red patches and it's like it was like just really really dry skin and flaky and it was bad, um, but eventually it would like ebb and flow.
Bree:sometimes it'd be worse, sometimes it'd be better, but eventually something changed and his scalp started to clear and and he and I were having a conversation one day trying to figure out what it was, and I was like did you change something in your diet? He's like I stopped eating dairy.
Cassy:Oh buddy.
Bree:I think that's probably your issue. Yeah, and so today it's like he comes in and has a diet confession with me. He's like I had milk this week. I try to lactose free milk, though okay, we'll see if this the lactose or if it's something else in the dairy. Yeah, yeah, and in this case, like there was, and when he has something like that I can tell when there's a little dry patch, like it's nothing crazy, it's usually just something really minor. But it's enough for me to notice, because I know his scalp.
Cassy:Yeah.
Bree:And yeah, it was there. And he's like, oh, dang it, stupid milk. Because when he uses almond milk it's not a problem.
Cassy:Yeah, it's fine.
Bree:Those types of things you've got to have a dialogue back and forth. I had another client who I saw something on the back of his head and he was going to be going to the dermatologist. Anyway, I was like maybe have them look at that. I don't know what it is, but I don't recall it. I think his dermatologist like you, have a very astute barber like it's. It was safe, but they're gonna keep an eye on it.
Bree:Yeah, but it's something that the dermatologist didn't catch the previous appointment when they were looking for stuff, I was like yes, I know your scalp Got that section of skin covered. They can deal with the rest.
Cassy:Yeah, especially, I've had a couple that like it wasn't even necessarily a new spot that caught my eye to it. It was the way it was affecting the hair. The hair was clustered in a spot and I'm like I've never had this shading issue here before. This hasn't been. I've never struggled with this spot and then there's like something underneath. I'm like, just so you know, this is weird to me today.
Bree:Or sometimes there'll be like a spot that is not growing hair, yeah, and it's not necessarily an alopecia areata sort of situation. It's a. It seems like that's a sebaceous cyst and it's like. I would recommend you get that taken care of, because, like I'm not going to lance it for you.
Cassy:Like that's not a thing.
Bree:I'm going to do, but because it is causing an area to not grow hair. If you're cool with that, okay, but I would recommend going to your doctor I.
Cassy:I had a teenager recently while I was taking the clippers to the side of his head. I was like, and we don't take his haircut super short, it's like a three taper down and not too tight. And so when I'm first going over it, there's this spot that opens up in the back and I'm like what in the world happened? I thought for a second that I dug in with my lower clipper. No, there was literally no hair in a little line and I was like did you do something to your head back here? Apparently, like a couple weeks prior, he had fallen on his boat and he knew that his head had bled a little bit, but he didn't realize that it actually caused like a whole thing back there. I was like, yeah, I was like you got a little bald spot. Now I was like you're missing some hair, Whoops.
Bree:Yeah, it was like at least a half inch to an inch long line in his hair. I've had times when clients have come in and you know, along the initial comb through the hair, you know check for bumps, bumps, moles and critters and you see a very distinct texture on the ends of their hair that like, if you've seen it before, there's no mistaking when that hair has obviously met fire or intense heat. Yeah, so it's just like. So you've been grilling lately or something, and a guy came in once and like got his eyebrows singed the front. It took a while to heal. I will say the.
Cassy:It took a while to heal, I will say, the sometimes wild array of contents in the hair from like trade workers, unintentionally, like they've usually showered, by the time they've landed in my chair, you know what I mean. Most of them don't come fresh, dirty off of work, but like the adhesive or the tar or just the paint yes, the paint Sometimes, if they did have to come from work, the wood chips, spider webs, oh my god one time there was an actual spider in somebody's hair.
Bree:No, thank you.
Cassy:Oh my god, that was wild, that was so wild.
Bree:I've had people pull ticks off themselves, which I'm happy that they did it because I didn't want to do it.
Cassy:I get so nervous that I'm gonna find a tick on somebody and feel obligated to get it. Yeah, because I'm gonna have to. Yeah, and it's gonna freak me me out because I hate them. I'm already hyper-vigilant of them on my clients, so I'm triple-checking every mold.
Bree:I'm just like are you sure you don't have legs right?
Cassy:Yeah, you're not a bit of butt sticking out of there, are you?
Bree:Yeah, there's a lot of things that are fun to educate clients with, and some of it's a matter of them educating us on things Like. A lot of stuff I learn from clients.
Cassy:Oh my gosh, I love that. It's just like a well of a variety of knowledge, like it's not just one little area.
Bree:Yeah, I think I've learned everything I know about boating from like one client. Oh, like, did you know that, like non-motorized watercraft, you need to have some sort of a signal that can be heard mile out, oh really, or half mile out, something like that? Yeah, like, so you should have like a whistle. Oh, like when you kayak and stuff.
Cassy:Yes, oh, did not know that it's technically required, whoops.
Bree:But the thing is, kayaks and canoes don't require like registration or licensing or anything, yeah, anything so how are we to know that's?
Cassy:wild.
Bree:Also, we have the right-of-way in every instance, except for a sailboat with sails up. Oh, sailboats have right-of-way in every instance, except for a sailboat with sails up. Oh, sailboats have right of weight all the time they're using their sails yeah, all the time, because their sails are up they just heed the wind. They have less control yeah, I've definitely had to educate dads on the whole how to comb hair thing oh yeah, saved a lot of little girls, a lot of pain. Oh yeah, for sure, oh yeah.
Cassy:Saved a lot of little girls, a lot of pain. Oh yeah, for sure. And the knowledge of knowing detanglers exist.
Bree:Mm-hmm, or even just like the use of a little bit of leave-in conditioner.
Cassy:Yeah, makes all the difference, isn't that?
Bree:what detangler is.
Cassy:Yeah, just watered down. Yeah, I used to just use conditioner.
Bree:Yeah, same same. I used to have like conditioner and water in a spray bottle to illustrate to a guy the difference that it makes by like combing his hair first, without it. Because, obviously the man didn't use it. And then spraying it and then combing it through and going feel the difference? Yeah, Instant. Of course, there's the constant education of the difference between a hairdresser and a barber.
Bree:oh my gosh yes, I still occasionally get called a hairdresser I held my tongue when the plumber came in the other day and was like, oh, it shouldn't affect your salon. It's like I'm not gonna say it's not worth it, like well.
Cassy:And just what, like I'll say, it grinds my gears the most about it is like your side. Okay, there's no signage, there's no, but there's barber poles, there's whatever, but like my window says barber co, it says barber in the name. How more clear could I be? Have a spinning pole yes, I do need a spinning pole. That is fair that it would make it very prevalent even then, though it wouldn't help.
Cassy:No, I would still get called a hairdresser because I'm a lady. I'm curious, though my arm even has a tattoo that says Lady Barber Barber.
Bree:Also, you notice that there seems to be an irritation on the barber end of being mistaken for a hairdresser. But I don't think hairdressers take offense if anybody calls them a barber.
Cassy:They don't though they don't, they don't what, they don't, they don't what.
Bree:Get called a barber. No, exactly.
Cassy:That's never happened to them, and if they do, they're welcome. Just kidding.
Bree:Well like like male hairdressers.
Cassy:Fair. I don't know that they don't. That's fair. Still don't like it.
Bree:I do not dress the hair. Well, that is the other. Education portion is like again the difference between? Because most people don't know that there is a difference.
Cassy:Yeah, exactly.
Bree:They just assume that you call ladies hairdressers and men barbers. Yeah, because you both cut hair. And then I get to be the barber nerd and deep dive and be like actually, way back in the day, before the two professions split into different sections, a hairdresser was a senior, highly accomplished barber. That was the designation of a barber.
Cassy:So they're like no way that makes sense why in so many places it's just tied under one license.
Bree:Mm-hmm. It seems like a lot of trades and professions over the last 50 to 100 years have become so super specialized that there aren't any general practitioners anymore, like when I was a kid, my dentist not that I was a fan, but he did it all. He did regular fillings, cleanings, he did extractions, he did root canals. He did the whole thing, he just went to one place, yeah, and now it's. Oh, my family dentist only does fillings and crowns. If you need a root canal, they send you to another guy, if you need an extraction, they send you somewhere else and it's just so specialized.
Bree:And I don't think the hair profession is really any different, where it's like you've got barbers, you've got hairdressers, but then you have those licensed professionals that subspecialize in hair replacement systems. Yeah, you know, go into, specifically, makeup esthetician. You know medical esthetician, only going into you know med spas, whatever subspecialty you want to get into, like there's so many things, yep, and I don't mind experts. If you want to hyper-focus on one aspect of your license power to you, go for it. Yeah, I mean, I have a favorite thing that I do. Yes, you do, I still practice all of it.
Cassy:Yeah, I know, I remember when I was in school I considered like I expected that I would well, first of all, starting hair school, I thought I was going to be a color specialist.
Cassy:Like I thought I was going to extension off and become a specialist in color, and then I realized color was science and I'm just bad at science. So we moved past that. But in that period of time, like I wanted to not only become a color specialist but I also wanted to get all these other extra licenses and stuff. But then the more I went through school, the more I realized I kind of wanted to focus on one kind of wheelhouse of things instead of extending too far. I wanted to be able to like spend time, because in my head head I pictured it back to back you know what I mean like getting all these certifications under my belt, and then I realized I really needed to just focus on my foundations, yeah my foundational skills as a barber getting my my fades really good, my beards really good, having my shaves down and stuff like that before I even could consider like looking into hair replacement or anything like that, because I have considered those kind of systems.
Bree:But I have to make sure I have my foundation in real good before I just pull too much in there well, and even doing things that aren't necessarily required under to have a license for, necessarily, like, uh, braids and dreadlocks, yeah, yeah, yeah, um. But even there's stuff that kind of overlaps with other industries, like microblading, where it's like if you want to get a microblading certification, you have to have the prerequisite of a cosmetology or esthetician license, but then you have to get get another certification in order to learn the techniques, but then you have to have a tattoo license in order to use a machine to do that, and so like it's a whole other thing that really it makes the regulation end of it a little bit more complicated, because it's the okay, whose umbrella does this fall under?
Bree:Whose jurisdiction is gonna be dealing with the violations here, and then you got you know all right, well, congratulations. Now you have to get two different shop licenses, yeah, that seems like a jumbled mess. I mean yes and no, because same thing with med spas where they could hire an esthetician. But an esthetician has to work in an establishment that is a licensed shop. So it has to be an establishment that's licensed under the board that governs estheticians.
Bree:In addition to whatever medical license requirement is there. So those are also two totally separate boards. Makes sense. But unfortunately there is a an ignorance on the medical end of things as far as our profession, because med spas don't really have a technical definition or category.
Bree:So now medical professionals think that theirs is the end-all, be-all or the standard for sanitation or whatever, not to say that they're not solid on the sanitation end of things. But that doesn't mean that your regulatory board is above our regulatory board. Yeah, like you don't get to just be like, no, we're fine automatically. No, you still have to get licensed. Yeah, and you still have to be inspected by our people. Yep, so that's unfortunate, that there seems to be a little bit of a a classist type of a situation because you go, there's medical services and then there's beauty services and they can't overlap. You got to know where the line is, yeah, and when you kind of blur that with med spas where it's like, all right, you're injecting people with things, all right, you have to be medical professional to do that. Yeah, because beauty professionals are not allowed to pierce the skin. Yes, and it's such a an interesting line to have to draw more and more, especially when companies are rolling out different technology and procedures.
Cassy:Oh yeah.
Bree:So it's like oh, you really got to make that line really clear, especially in rules and legislation, Mm-hmm. But that requires education, because even verbiage can be a little interesting. We'll use that word interesting because, like electrolysis, it's a pointy electrode right that you put into the hair follicle yes. So you're not piercing the skin with it, you're going into a hole in the skin.
Cassy:Oh yeah, a hole, a pre-existing hole, yes, yes, and zapping the hairball. Oh gosh, splitting hairs.
Bree:But like those distinctions matter, yep for sure. Any other instances of uh client education you can think of off the top of your head at the end of this wonderful work day teaching teenagers about conditioner has become a very prevalent thing or even just washing patterns, that too.
Cassy:That for sure, like how they're getting built up in an area because they've got so much dense hair and stuff. Yes, absolutely, um, but especially since, like the wavy, curly like look is in and the, the younger gentlemen that have naturally curly hair but it's just a frizzy ball on the top of their head teaching them how to moisturize their curls and be able to get some more bounce out of what's happening up there instead of just frizz, yeah, instead of just bush I got that going on, with some middle-aged men, yeah, who are trying to grow their hair out.
Bree:It's like, yeah, you got some great natural wave, but it is thirsty, the real part thirsty real parched the beauty of using spongebob as like an endless multi-generational example.
Cassy:Yes, yes, water water, but no, I think that's about it cool all right.
Bree:Well, thanks for hanging out absolutely have a good night. Catch y'all later.
