Basic Information
A barber is, in the modern era at least, a men's hairdresser - although as the name implies, this includes, and implies a speciality in facial hair. Indeed, one of the main functions of a historical barber was to be able to shave his clients more effectively than they could themselves - the modern barber is more likely to be concerned with styling as the safety razor and near universal indoor plumbing make shaving itself an almost trivial task. Control of nose and ear hair is also to be expected, but unlike a women's hairdresser/beautician body hair is rarely addressed. A few cross train as piercers/tattooists, but this remains niche.
Historically, the barber - or barber-chirurgeon/barber-surgeon was expected to be far more versatile and also performed surgery, cautery and bloodletting, dressed and stitched wounds, pulled teeth and administered a variety of other physical medical procedures. This is the origin of the red-and-white pole still displayed by more traditional barbers (symbolising blood and bandages). This role mostly died out during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These days you may get massage therapies or wart/skin tag removal from a few barbers, but anything else is likely to result in a referral to a trained medic (and a good barber may well be on the look out for things like dermatological problems and skin cancer). The Barber also exists as a character type trope in the Western Genre.
As keepers of a traditionally male space with the opportunity to become well acquainted with their clients, barbers were also known for carrying a grey market trade in contraceptives and pornography … although these days "something for the weekend" is more likely to consist of recreational drugs. Barbers are also famous gossips (by male standards even worse than cab drivers) and (particularly in the Middle Eastern tradition) storytellers). Of course in the Middle Easter tradition, being a barber was thought to be a popular cover for hashashin … which leads us neatly onto the idea of the murderous barber (specifically Sweeny Todd), which must be an ever present fear as a comparative stranger waves a (literally) razor sharp blade around your throat, or the old mafia trope of murdering men as they sit in a barber's chair.
Game and Story Use
- There's the old matter of the barber-surgeon who is good at cutting hair, versus the one who is good at everything but. Also, the one who is good at neither but is the only game in town.
- Good, as noted, for rumours and adventure hooks.
- Necessary to those prone to getting injured until the rise of the professional surgeon.
- Might even be some kind of cunning man in the early days.