Just read something wild about the first barber schools in the US

I was poking around online the other night, reading up on old trade stuff, and I found out the first real barber school in America opened in 1893. That's in Chicago, which I guess makes sense for back then. It just hit me how new that really is, you know? Before that, it was all just apprenticeships, learning from some guy in his shop. My grandpa started that way in the 50s, just sweeping floors and watching. It's crazy to think the whole idea of a formal school for it is barely over a hundred years old. Makes you wonder how many great barbers never got a diploma, just a pair of clippers and a lot of patience. Has anyone else come across old stories or facts about how the trade was taught way back when?

3 comments

3 Comments

wells.karen12d ago

I always figured barber schools were an old thing, like from the 1700s or something. Seeing that 1893 date for Chicago really puts it in a new light. It makes that old apprenticeship system my own great-uncle did seem way more normal for the time. Honestly, it's a good reminder that a lot of skilled trades worked that way for centuries before formal classes.

garcia.tyler12d ago

Totally, my grandpa learned carpentry the same old-school way.

the_stella1d ago

Yeah, my dad was a mechanic that way too, just like @garcia.tyler's grandpa.