Fox on the Road: City Barber Shop
By: Rebecca Jeffrey
Updated: November 26, 2012
It's been 130 years since K C Shaving Parlor first opened it's doors in Siloam Springs.
"Since this building was built in 1881. It's moved a couple of doors that way or a couple of doors that way but it's always been in this same area," Chris Sally, owner of City Barber Shop said.
Now more than a century later, with a few different owners and names and even a fire, the City Barber Shop is flourishing.
"We have guys that come in that are well into their 90s and what's really neat to me is we have guys that have lived in Siloam their whole life that come and they got their first hair cut in this shop and they still come here today," Sally said.
"My family has been coming here forever as well. My dad comes up here, my brother comes up here. It's kind of, when you go get a hair cut, you come up here," Ray Easley, a 10 year customer said.
"I can remember this barber shop when I was a kid and there's a lot of things in this area that 's changed a lot, this hasn't changed," Ken Bolinger said, a long term client to the shop.
It brings the past to the present; putting a timeless tradition in its perfect place.
"We can do whatever hair cut that somebody likes but I think the experience it what's different . We still do hot lather shaves on the backs of peoples necks," Sally said.
"It's kind of like you get to go back in time when you come up here," Bolinger said.
It's not just the atmosphere, but the conversation and the life-long relationships that build with just a snip.
"When people get in the barber's chair they tell you things about their lives, what's going on with them and what's happening in their life that they don't tell you outside of the barber shop," Sally said.
"This is kind of like hanging out with the guys at the garage, kind of like the man cave," Bolinger said.
"You can be an average barber and a good conversationalist and you'll do really, really well. He said if you're a great barber but you can't talk to people you're not going to do so hot. That was probably the best advice," Sally said about advice given to him by the previous owner.
The tried and true advice is sure to keep this tradition going for another hundred years.
"I'd like to be able to bring my grandsons here one day or great-grandsons when I get to that point and get their first hair cut I think it'll mean a whole lot," Bolinger said.
