I did something today that I have only done a handful of times since 2020, but which I have done countless times over the course of my life. In fact, maybe I can count the times. I would estimate that I’ve done it over 700 times, and with a few exceptions along the way, I’ve always done it with different people. I’m not so different than most men my age in this regard. I probably shouldn’t drag this out any longer… I went for a haircut. I have always had a full head of hair, perhaps too full at times, so over time I have gone shorter and shorter with my hair. Along the way, starting in my forties some time, I added a full beard. The beard came and went and came back finally for good as I prepared for retirement in 2019. Just as all of this head hear was settling in on me, COVID hit and I recall getting one last haircut in January (mentioning to the woman that her business was likely going to be in a world of hurt very soon). She didn’t believe me, but then reality set in and that was the last I saw of a barber for many years.
The barber industry took a hit in 2020–2021 but has recovered well. The number of shops and total employment are now meaningfully above pre-pandemic 2019 levels, even if the narrow Bureau of labor Statistics (BLS) “barber” occupation count hasn’t fully rebounded, likely a classification issue as more workers are categorized under broader cosmetology or stylist codes. The number of barbers peaked in 2018 at over 20,000, and by 2023 had fallen to roughly 16,000. However, broader industry employment figures (which include all barbershop workers, not just those classified as “barber”) tell a different story: total barbershop industry employment was ~162,500 in 2024, up 2.4% per year on average over the 2019–2024 period. There were about 142,659 barbershop businesses in 2024, reflecting 3.3% average annual growth over the 2019–2024 period. By 2025 that number climbed to roughly 154,925, up 2.2% from 2024. The industry hit an estimated $5.8 billion in revenue in 2024, up 2.7% from the prior year, with a five-year CAGR of about 1.7%. I’m guessing that the barber I went to in January, 2020 had a few rough years, but is smiling now.
On one level that shouldn’t surprise any of us. The world has recovered from the pandemic in most ways in quite a strong manner. In the depths of the COVID moment, despite being such a self-described optimist, I was the guy who said nothing would ever be the same again and that we were headed towards a new normal. While I think AI has made that more true than not, I’m not sure it has anything whatsoever to do with the impact of the pandemic. Maybe the human race just doesn’t like to acknowledge its delicate vulnerability to biological risk. I’m not sure many of us would have thought much or known much about the Spanish Flu of 1918 had it not been for COVID reawakening that distant and somewhat hidden memory. On the other hand, COVID did change my life when it comes to my barbering needs. I was not a guy who disliked going to the barber. I can recall times when I found it a very pleasant personal service experience. But I also know that either because of the nature of my hair or the nature of my sense of personal appearance (which I would have characterized as indifference), I never went back to going to the barber, even as COVID waned and others were back getting buzzed with regularity.
I went to CVS in early 2020 and bought an electric hair and beard trimmer. The first time I cut my own hair I was pretty unconcerned about the outcome since we were all on lockdown anyway. Unruly hair seemed to go hand-in-hand with wearing sweatpants all day. My first self-barbering seemed pretty easy except for the back of the head part. Mirrors and eye/hand coordination were tricky. I asked Kim to help me with the back and realized that what seemed like a simple task to me was just too nerve-wracking for her. I guess women worry a lot about such things and she didn’t want the responsibility for screwing up my do. I tried to no avail to reassure her that it was no big deal, but it was too big a deal for her to overcome, so I just did it myself. I did it by feel in the back rather than by sight and it seemed to work OK. I developed my own system. I used a 9mm clipper for the top, a 7mm for the top of the crown and sides, a 5mm for the back and sides and a 3mm for the neck border, around the ears, the sideburns and the beard. I get very itchy about mustache hair in my mouth, so I use a 1mm to do my upper lip and my soul patch. Easy, right? I thought it looked good. Kim reassured me that it looked good. Then, the first time I went into a barbershop on a whim in perhaps 2024, I started by telling the barber that I cut my own hair. He said without a moment’s hesitation, “yeah, I could tell…”. So much for having done a good job for the past four years.
I still cut my own hair on a regular basis and am a bit more conscious of being careful to do it as evenly as possible. I am not aiming for a professional coif, but I also don’t want to look like a throw-back granola-eater either. Every once in a while, usually before I head off on a trip or have an event, I go to a local barber and ask them to even things up. Since I’m heading to the east coast next week to see family and friends and attend my 50th business school reunion, it seemed like a haircut might be in order. When I walked in and sat down I asked the young lady to even it up all around, trim the beard and give me a shave. What can I say…it was a pleasant personal service experience…and I have to admit, my head hair looks a lot better than usual. Maybe there is something to this whole barbering thing that the world doesn’t seem to be able to live without.
Today I went out and bought aa few short-sleeve summer shirts and shorts in my new reduced size. I did this as my nod to the start of summer this Memorial Day weekend and because my upcoming trip east will find me one day on a sailboat in the Chesapeake, two days on the Delaware shore and one expected warm Sunday in Ithaca after the reunioning settles down. I’m freshly shorn, teed up with new beachwear (salmon shorts and all) and ready to start the summer of 2026. I will road test this all tomorrow at a Memorial Day gathering with some friends on the hilltop. I’m meeting the summertime feelin’ fine.