Do modern barbers accept walk-ins? The answer is yes BUT…
And that’s it right there. That BUT is more complicated than you think.
In many countries, barbering is still considered a traditional art form. Along with that comes cultural norms and a resistance to change in terms of embracing the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) that many industries have welcomed in the form of “tech solutions.” It is seen as a trade down, even though technology helps to minimise cost, increase productivity, and improve the overall experience.
This might work for the hospitality trade or engineering industries, where a machine or robot can replace a fitter and turner or a front-of-house host, but no one has found a replacement for the barber. Whether you regularly visit a barber or not, you would find it absurd to consider the notion of a barber robot.
Online appointment apps
While hesitant at first, personal services have shifted to an appointment-based model rather quickly after 2020. Before that, time seemed to be moving slowly between tasks. You could dip into the barbershop at any time of the day. The norms as we knew them weren’t so defined as they are now. You just sat and waited for your turn while the dull moments were filled with spicy conversation around the regular three top headliners. News, sports, and cars.
Today, you need access to the internet on a mobile device of sorts in order to secure your seat. This becomes trickier if you have built up a rapport with your barber. Especially if his schedule seems to play dodgeball with your needs and puts what was routinely enjoyed before the introduction of online booking apps on hold.
So while the positives are many, factually and literally, something still feels off. The clinical approach to this traditional art form removes from it the social and cultural elements that once brought us together in a way that felt normal and holistic. We experienced a sense of community and voice – the tradition of passing down knowledge by just sitting in the shop waiting our turn. We were inherently being exposed, face-to-face, to views from those in the space that could never be accessed via a virtual platform. We needed to stand behind our opinion without the shelter of a screen or voices reduced by being words on a screen.
Those voices helped shape the men we became. Not afraid to publicly share our views and courageously back them up, regardless of judgment, or even worse, trolling. The barbershop of old is slowly fading, and we have accepted that carefully scheduling our time is more valuable. Physical time in the barbershop queue is replaced by using the booking app but if that time saved is spent on unimportant things like scrolling through social media then we have traded down. We have gained time only to lose it elsewhere.
