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tep into any barbershop today and you'll notice
something is changing. Clients are no longer looking
for a five-minute clipper cut and a quick dash out the
door. ey want more—a sharper finish, a ritual, a moment
of escape. And that's exactly where add-ons come in.
Now, some people think barbershop add-ons are a
modern trend: facials, scalp treatments, hot towel shaves,
and so on. But the truth is, add-ons have been part of
barbering for centuries. In fact, they're at the very heart of
our profession.
A TRADITION AS OLD AS THE BARBER POLE
If you've ever wondered why there's a red, white, and
sometimes blue pole spinning outside a barbershop,
it's because our predecessors weren't just cutting hair.
ey were multitaskers: barbers, surgeons, dentists,
and community healers all rolled into one.
e red on the pole symbolized blood, the white
represented the bandages, and the blue—added later in
America—stood for the veins. Men would come to the
barbershop not just for a shave, but for bloodletting,
leeching, or even to have a tooth pulled.
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