barber pole
Is That A Pole On Your Building Or Are You Just Happy To See Me!?
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 | American Haircuts | No Comments
It’s not a barbershop until there’s a pole on the building. Well, here goes! It’s up!
Here’s a gruesome bit of trivia… do you know what the stripes on the barber pole represent? Years ago when barbers were “barber-surgeons,” we used to do a little bloodletting now and then. The stripes represent bandages; red for the blood-stained and white for the clean bandages. These were hung to dry after washing. The bandages would often twist in the wind to form a spiral pattern. These bandages, hanging outside a barber’s shop, became a symbol of the barbering profession. The bandages were later replaced by the red, white, and blue striped poles we use today. The bowl at the bottom of the pole was used to receive the blood during bloodletting.
Our new barber pole, the Marvy 88 is made by the William Marvy Company (now the sole manufacturer of barber poles in North America), a company which has been making barber poles since New Year’s Day in 1950. When ordering the pole, Dave spoke with Scott Marvy personally to make sure we had exactly the pole we needed. It’s a great thing the business is still in the family — let’s hope the Marvy tradition continues.
One tradition we’re glad didn’t continue is the whole bloodletting thing — unless, of course, you end up in Cory’s chair in Roswell.