Personality, complete with electric massage gloves
A sign swings in the wind above a small barbershop. The business seems torn from a scene of “The Andy Griffith Show.” In the window a dog stirs, acknowledging the entry of a new customer. Owner Sandra Julian doesn’t look up as she greets the newcomer, her eyes trained on the hairline of the latest serviceman that has taken a seat in her barber’s chair.
The Jefferson Street Barbershop is nestled in the unassuming section of downtown Franklin that is home to so many independent entrepreneurs in this town. Next-door are the Franklin Coin shop and the T-shirt Express that is frequented so often by Franklin College students. Across the street is Franklin’s local Grill Bar Tavern.
Julian opened her shop at the site on Jefferson Street three years ago last September. She had been cutting hair at various locations for 20 years before that, including a stint at a small shop on Madison Street, also in Franklin.
Upon entering the exceedingly quaint establishment, you are struck by a sense of nostalgia – not for something that you’ve experienced before, but for something you’ve always heard tales of from the ‘good old days.’ The walls are decorated in classic barbershop-style with broad red, white and blue stripes present on almost every surface.
“I’ve had my own shop that was more salon style before but this is just way better,” Julian said.
With every sentence spoken by this barber, you understand more and more just how much she believes in her vocation.
“Barbering is a dying art,” Julian said, finishing up the last touches of the straight razor shave that ends every haircut at Jefferson Street Barbershop. The face costs a couple of dollars extra, but the hot cream is always brought out with a straight razor to edge out the haircut. It is these touches along with the attitude of the barbers working there that are the main draw to the shop. Another signature feature is the customary massage that follows each haircut.
“There have always been massages in barbershops,” Julian said, pointing to an antique photo of an old shop in which you can clearly see electric massage gloves very similar to those being used by Mae Quintana, the other barber in attendance.
She has a staff of three local women.
“It is a little unusual I think, that we only have women barbers working here,” Julian said.
This may be, but it is not nearly as striking as the reverence Julian has for her art.
Establishments like the Jefferson Street Barbershop are fading from view, often paved over by chain salons like Great Clips. There are a few left yet in towns like Franklin where someone wanting a simple trim without the chemical smell and impersonal relationships of a salon can enjoy the service and conversation, the staple of true barbers everywhere.
