Barbers stay in the business for the people, tradition

Aubrey "Arb" Daniel, owner of Fro Shapers barbershop at 245 S. Plaza Way in Cape Girardeau, likes being able to transform a person in the time it takes for them to walk through the door, sit down and get their hair cut.

A person comes in one way, and they leave looking and feeling another way, he said Friday afternoon while giving customer Ron Martin a taper-fade.

After going to many other barbers in the city, Martin has stuck with Daniel for years.

Cutting hair keeps Daniel productive, he said.

"Keeps me looking good," Martin added, tilting his head down as Daniel clipped his hair.

Fred Mabuce trims Ralph Maxton’s hair Friday at Kingsway and Varsity Barber Shop in Cape Girardeau. (Laura Simon)

Daniel and his family moved to Jackson in 2002 from his hometown of Milwaukee, choosing Southeast Missouri by throwing a dart at a map. He has been cutting hair since 1985, first teaching others how to do it for six years, then on the side while he was a deputy sheriff in Milwaukee. After an accident, Daniel was not able to continue working as a deputy, so he moved to Southeast Missouri and opened his first shop in 2004.

Fro Shapers has been at its South Plaza Way location for about three years, moving from 121 Broadview St.

Daniel's clientele includes doctors, coaches, managers, university professors and everyone in between.

"It's just hair to me," he said.

While in the chair, Daniel's clients talk, and he listens.

The networking aspects of being a barber and the people Daniel meets through his work, and being able to tie them together, are things he loves about his job.

The barbershop has always been a hub, especially in the black community, he said. If someone moves to a new city, the first place they go to is the barbershop because they can find out everything they need to know about where to do what.

Daniel said he aspires to be like Dave and Harlen's Barber Shop, which was next to Fro Shapers until recently when the duo, Dave Carmen and Harlen Weber, retired after nearly 50 years.

Being able to operate the same business in the same location for that long is unbelievable, Daniel said, adding he can only wish to have that kind of success.

The two shops never competed, because Carmen and Weber were "vets in the game" and couldn't be touched, he said.

But some of their clientele has spread to Fro Shapers, along with Kingsway and Varsity Barber Shop.

Fred Mabuce has been a barber for almost 50 years, opening Varsity Barber Shop at 1125 Broadway in Cape Girardeau in 1983. Scott Maintz of Kings-way Barber Shop moved to the downtown location about two years ago.

Maintz has been cutting hair for about 20 years, taking after his father, who was a barber for 28 years.

Being a barber is a dying tradition, Maintz said, because barbers are self-employed and a majority of expenses are spent out of pocket. Barbers pay their own insurance, and there are no paid vacations.

There also is no guarantee one will make money, Mabuce added.

"You ain't going to be rich; you ain't going to be poor; you're going to make a living," Maintz said.

The two agreed the people they meet and work with are their favorite part of the business.

As hair trends come and go, the banter between barber and client, a passion for hair and a spinning barber's pole stay constant. What is noticeable in the two different barbershops is the same comfortable ease of tradition.

"I don't think there's been a day I've been here and haven't laughed," Daniel said.

In his opinion, barbershops stand for something.

"My door's always open," Daniel said.

ashedd@semissourian.com

388-3632

Pertinent addresses:

245 S. Plaza Way, Cape Girardeau, MO

1125 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO