After starving as a barber during the Depression2, my father traded his straight razor3 for a bench saw at the local lumberyard.

But self-grooming spares a man “the frequent vexation of waiting for barbers, and of their sometimes dirty fingers, offensive breaths, and dull razors.”

With their red, white and blue striped poles, dark Naugahydechairs and straight razor shaves, barbershops hold a special place in American culture.