Barbering Timeline - National Barber Museum

5000 B.C.

As early as 6,000 years ago, barbering services were performed by Egyptian nobility. The crude instruments were usually formed from sharpened flint or oyster shells.

900

Barbers of the middle ages not only practiced shaving, hair-cutting, and hair-dressing, they also dressed wounds and performed surgical operations. They were called barber-surgeons.

1096

The barber-surgeons formed their first organization in France in 1096.

1300

In the fourteenth century in England, barbers formed into two classes: those who practiced barbering and those who practiced surgery.

1450

The barber's company and the surgeon's guild were united by law in 1450. The law was enacted so that no one during surgery should practice barbering and no barber should practice any phase of surgery except the pulling of teeth.

1745

In 1745 a bill was passed separating barbers from surgeons. When the barber-surgeons separated, the barber kept the pole as their identification. The pole consists of red and white, or red, white and blue stripes. Red for blood, white for bandages and blue for veins.

1770

Most men of the colonial times were smooth shaven and many of the rich wore wigs. Also in the colonial days, barbering was hardly considered a white man's trade. Hence it was mostly confined to black barbers. Wealthy people became slave owners and the duty of the barber was shifted to the servants.

1799

George Washington was bled to death by his physician in 1799. He suffered from a prolonged windpipe infection. He died calmly counting his pulse at the age of 67.

1848

By 1848, bloodletting instruments had disappeared from most doctor's satchels.

1861

The beard did not come into its own until the Civil War, 1861-1865.

1865

After the Civil War, with the influx of Dutch, Germans, Italians, and Swedish immigrants, the barber profession elevated.

1867

The Civil War that closely followed the Western movement brought more changes to America, including the re-establishment of the barber shop as an accepted institution on Main Street.

1880

The average shop at this time cost approximately $20 to equip and were ten by twelve feet in size. The shop consisted of a straight-backed chair with a head piece resembling a crutch, a basin of water, a piece of common soap and a brush, 'setting' chairs, and enough towels to last a week. "One towel to every ten to twelve customers." Hair cuts were five or ten cents and shaves were three cents.

1883

As people moved westward, there was little time for wigs and personal embellishments. The pioneer life was a hard one. The men let their hair grow as well as their beards.

1886

The Barbers Protective Union was formed on December 6, 1886, in Columbus, Ohio.

1887

The Protective Union became the Journeymen Barber's International on December 5, 1887.

1893

It was not until 1893 when A.B. Moler opened the first Barber School in Chicago. He also published textbooks at that time.

1897

In 1897 the state of Minnesota passed legislation for a barber license. For the next forty years various states enacted legislation whereby barbers were licensed and inspected for sterilization to protect the public from disease. With the enactment of the licensing laws and stringent inspections, diseases such as impetigo, anthrax, ringworm and barbers itch are seldom heard of today.