Barbers And Butchers: Where Have They Gone?

The world changes at a rapid pace. New developments and new technologies are constantly being created. Neighborhood atmospheres, politics, and a whole slough of many other things too long to list, change over time. In most cases, the changes are positive. But every now and then the change takes away something valuable. Two professions have become nearly extinct nowadays, and this change is not for the better.

The barbers of the world have taken a back seat and slowly faded out of existence as more and more hair stylists have emerged. I never understood why a hair stylist is better than a barber. In this day and age where I am forced to go to one, I still feel that barbers were better.

First off, the barbers cost half the price for the same service. Secondly, the hair stylists are much more superficial. A hair stylist doesn't have a vacuum on the wall to vacuum hair. A hair stylist doesn't have that real barber smell with the old fashioned products. And most importantly, the hair stylists tend to overuse electric shavers. I am not anti-electric shavers, but when a hair cut was finished the barber would use a straight razor. Nothing else can compare to the close shave given with a straight razor. Which brings up a second point-- hair stylists don't offer shaves. The barber has lost a place in this superficial world.

Butcher shops were also eliminated over the years. The best cuts of meat, recommendations on how to cook a particular cut, and a quality that can be found nowhere else is now gone. Sadly the supermarkets have become the place for someone to buy meat. The quality is now poor and the quantity has been predetermined and prewrapped. No longer can a person just walk in and ask for a pound of chop meat. A search must ensue through a bunch of packages filled with styrofoam and wrapped in cellophane to find an amount of chop meat that comes closest to the desired amount. The amount of time it has spent in that cellophane is questionable to boot.

Butchers played a vital role in keeping our food quality and food standards high. Sadly, all of our food standards have slipped over the years. Not that I'm claiming a connection between butchers and food quality overall. But the same process that allows for butcher shops to close is likely related to the process where the quality of food goes downhill.

This is not a plea to bring back the barbers and the butchers of yesteryear. It is far too late for that. But let it serve as a warning to future generations to hold on to the unique and valuable businesses that are still in existence today. If we don't, other occupations may become endangered or extinct as well.