BARBERSHOPS OF THE BOYS (5)

by Bobby Snipes, CHS '53

I remember only two Clovis barber shops.    The first one was in our living room at 1020 Thornton when Dad would bring Mothers kitchen stool into the living room.   Art was always first because he was the oldest.  Dad would pin a cup towel around our neck,  pull out his barber tools which included a comb and a pair of those mechanical hand held clippers. Seems like he had a little brush also.

Dad was pretty good and he had pride in he work.  He and mother wanted us boys to look neat....and Mother didn't want any gaps.   Occasionally those hand clippers (because they weren’t too sharp) would grab a hair and yank....I would flinch and holler...and Dad would say "sit still".   Oh..those were the good ole days.

Actually the only barber shop that we ever went to was  Petty's Barber Shop. It was just around the corner from The Country Store and right south of the Police Department and Fire Station on Mitchell street.   It was a little bitty shop and mother would take Art and I there occasionally.  She would take us to the door and Petty would say in his high tenor voice "Come back in about an hour".  There was always a waiting line and Angus Petty remembered exactly who you were behind.

I don't remember prices but it seems like when we were a little older the price was 50cents. I do remember that regardless the style of hair cut,  they always took that shaving cream brush with a little warm water and mixed it up to a lather and brushed it around your ears.

Then they took a straight razor and trimmed around your ears to give you that crisp look. And then to top it off Mr. Petty would grab that bottle of Jeris Hair Tonic and rub his hands together and then rub it on your hair.   Man-o-man did that smell good.  We left thinking we were the sharpest looking kids on the block and that feeling lasted about 10 minutes and then we were back wrestling in the grass.

Some years later, Angus moved his shop across the street east and I went there for years....even after Wayne Petty graduated from CHS and barbered with his Dad.  After Angus moved across the street and think that tiny building became Pax Key Shop.

On January 23, 2016 there was an article in the Clovis News Journal that a new Barber Shop was opening in the refurbished Hotel Clovis.  A lady, Jennifer Estes was returning to her home town and opening a barber shop(not a salon or beauty shop) and catering to men and she would be using straight razors, hot towels and hot soap.  She said it would be like Clyde DeFoor did in the 60s and 70s....and like Floyd Talley did before that....and like Fletch Malone did in 1910.  She said a shave and a hair cut would run about $25.00. So there is a little history and an up date for Mil's readers.


For MIL'S, 3/1/16
Bobby Joe Snipes, CHS '53