The Barbershop Pole
Have you ever wondered about the origins of a barbershop pole? Probably not, but that’s the topic of this week’s blog. Barbers have a strange but fascinating history that intrigued me since I learned about it in middle school. Not surprisingly, I came up with this topic while waiting for my well overdue haircut at The Brotherly Love Barbershop (shout out to Lou, best barber in the city).
During the Middle Ages, barbers duties consisted of more than just cutting hair. They worked alongside doctors as surgeons and were responsible for many operations that ranged from pulling teeth to bloodletting (more about bloodletting later). Although physicians were knowledgeable in medicine and treatments, they seldom performed surgeries themselves. Barber’s specialty in using sharp instruments made them more qualified to perform surgical operations, such as amputations. These barbers were creatively called barber surgeons.
It is no secret that many of the medical practices performed in the past were actually detrimental to one’s health. Perhaps the most infamous of these operations was the practice of bloodletting. Bloodletting is exactly what it sounds. A surgeon would create a large incision in the patient and allow their blood to pour out. The idea is that if a patient has a disease, removing the blood from the diseased area will get rid of the disease before it spreads to the rest of the body. Obviously, from today’s medical advancements we can see how dangerous and absurd this surgery was but at the time it was quite common. In fact, George Washington passed away after bloodletting as he ended up losing 40% of the blood in his body.
The practice of bloodletting is where the famous red, white, and blue barbershop pole gets its origins. Initially, barbershop poles used to be covered in bandages and blood from these operations. Some patients even held the white pole while the surgeon performed the bloodletting, hence the red and white poles. These poles became so popular that barber surgeons began placing red and white poles outside of their shop to symbolize that they are both barbers and surgeons. The red was a symbol of the blood and the white represented the bandages. The blue was a later addition that some believe represents the veins prior to the surgery while other speculate that it was added mainly in the U.S. to make the shops ore patriotic.
There was a very strange cartoon I used to watch as a kid called The Misadventures of Flapjack. This show had a character called Dr. Barber who owned a barbershop and a hospital that are connected. There was an ongoing gag in the show where this character would be giving a haircut and would convince his client to get a surgery at the hospital next door. When they arrive at the hospital, the barber greets them with surgeon attire on. When questioned if the do tor is the barber next door, he responds that his brother is a barber and he is a doctor. At the time I did not understand the reference but looking back at it, it is a comical reference to the medieval barber surgeons.
To make a fine gentleman, several trades are required, but chiefly a barber — Oliver Goldsmith
