Barber of 56 years Billy Sisco remains popular with customers of all ages

Billy Sisco cuts a customer's hair Tuesday, Sept. 19, at his barber shop in Cape Girardeau.

Fred Lynch

Billy Sisco likes to tell his clients his haircuts cost $400.

It's substantially higher than the $1.25 he charged when he started cutting hair 56 years ago.

His sense of humor intact at age 75, he unloads the punchline in his unassuming manner.

"I give them an instant $386 rebate," Sisco says with a smile.

It's the kind of comfortable, personal touch he uses as he clips the heads of those seated in his hydraulic Emil J. Paidar barber chair, which outdates him.

Billy Sisco's tools of the trade are displayed Tuesday, Sept. 19 at his barber shop in Cape Girardeau.

Fred Lynch

It's the same barber seat military airmen used to sit in at Harris Airfield in Cape Girardeau, and one of the two his father, William D. Sisco, first put to use in his own shop around 1941. Many prominent men have sat in the chair, from national radio host Rush Limbaugh to Southeast Missouri State University presidents.

"Nobody is more important than anyone else," Sisco says as he stands in his 7-by-15-foot work space at Sisco's Barber & Hairstyling on 211 N. Sprigg St. that he's occupied for 23 years. He says its the fifth location for the business since his father first came to town in 1938 and opened the shop with a partner.

Armed with a sharp memory -- he claims he can recall sensations experienced from just a couple months of age "like they were yesterday" -- he can recall the wide range of heads he's clipped on, from that of a 3-month-old to that of a 98-year-old.

"I've never worked a day in my life," Sisco says. "It's people. It's just that I love people. I just feel like whoever I'm with I feel the same age, whether it's a 90-year-old or a 5-year-old. My wife would probably say that's true."

Sisco graduated from Cape Girardeau Central High School in 1960, enrolled at Moler Barber College in downtown St. Louis for six months and then took over one of the two chairs at his dad's shop.

The foot rest of Billy Sisco's barber chair shows it was manufactured by Emil J. Paidar Company of Chicago.

Fred Lynch

"Since I was with my dad, he said there would be some days when I wouldn't have anyone because everyone was going to the shop because of him, but there was never a day I didn't have at least one customer, sometimes one, and maybe two, but it grew from that," Sisco says.

He started when flat tops were popular, but changed with the times as long hair became fashionable. While styles may have changed over the years, many of the customers have not. In fact, one man has been sitting in his chair for all 56 years of his barbering.

He worked alongside his father for nearly half those years, and still recites his adages.

"My dad always said 'Nobody's hair is hard to do, but some are easier messed up than others,'" Sisco says.

Another is: "What matters is what do you do with the person's hair in the chair."

Kent Cargle sits in the barber chair for a haircut by Billy Sisco, whose father used the barber chair years ago.

Fred Lynch

Not that Sisco confines his work to the chair. He's an accommodating sort who notes the customer is his boss.

He's cut hair as early as 6:45 a.m. and as late as 11 p.m. to work with customer schedules. He'll also travel to homes if needed, a service he's provided since his start. He goes to Ratcliff Care Center the first Monday of every month to trim the men, while his sister, a beautician, caters to many of the women. It's something they've been doing for about 30 years.

He still keeps in an office desk drawer a play barber set he received 72 years ago from his father, complete with straight razor, shear, comb, brush and hand clipper, neatly kept in the original box. He says he used the kit to give his dad a lot of "haircuts," apparently the first steps of destiny.

"I never did say 'I know what I want to be,' just because I just flowed into it," Sisco says. "It's art. It's not just a job. It's art and it's like sculpturing."

That approach has played out over the years at Southeast Missouri State University, where he has styled the hair for the school's theater program since 1966. He says the most performers he's ever done is 21, for a musical.

Billy Sisco still has his childhood barber tools as seen Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017 at his barber shop in Cape Girardeau.

Fred Lynch

"I usually go down there the week before the production and do it behind the stage," Sisco says. "They have pictures to go by. You cut the hair accordingly to the period of time. That's been so much fun. I just love to do it."

He recently was behind the scenes of "An American Hero" at the River Campus, and enthusiastically gave a glimpse into the process, noting, "Three weeks ago I went and did their hair to see if their Army helmets would fit, and now I'm going back to give them a trim."

There's no doubt he's a barber who is all in, and one who can be counted on.

He says he underwent a seven-bypass heart surgery on Christmas morning in 2001 and was back on the job Jan. 15, 2002. He also broke a hip and femur in a fall with a customer in the chair, and three days later had rods and screws inserted. He tells his story, like others, in detail with time of day for surgery and doctor's name. "I was back to work in 18 days," he says. "I didn't use a walker or anything."

He has other fascinating accounts, like being paid $500 by a man's wife for moving his part, noting when the ongoing 10-year mission was completed "she walked in about a week later with five $100 bills."

He says when it comes down to it, people really don't have to go get haircuts, "but they do."

And it keeps him with a full schedule. His passion still burning bright, he never discusses retirement, and just goes about his craft.

"Some things you can't learn, they've got to be from here," Sisco says, tapping on an area where he once had delicate surgery. "They've got to be from your heart."