The barber: psychologist and social worker

The Barber Shop of Björn and Kjartan in Selfoss, South Iceland, celebrated its 70^th anniversary this week by offering coffee and cake to customers. The barber shop is much more than a barber shop, according to co-owner, Björn Ingi Gíslason. In a speech he gave on the 70^th anniversary of the Association of Barbers, he stressed that a barber is at once a psychologist, a social worker and a good listener.

“In addition, the political discussion is often heated, and here, it certainly hasn’t been lacking. Some [customers] love stopping by and dropping a bomb, and then they walk out when everything is at a boiling point,” he tells Morgunblaðið.

Gísli Sigurðsson opened the barber shop in 1948. His son Björn Gíslason took over about 50 years ago. “It was [Dad’s] number one wish that I become a barber, and he first had me cut his hair when I was 13,” Björn states. The son did, however, dream of becoming a house builder, but “when Dad died, I had to go off the deep end and take over the shop.”

To begin with, business was tough, because men began letting their hair grow long at the time. All over the world, business was down at barber shops. A Norwegian barber came to Iceland to explain to barbers how to react: hair had to be treated like grass and trimmed periodically. “That worked, and we survived.” Björn’s sons, Kjartan and Björn Daði are co-owners of the business.

Kjartan wanted to surprise his parents by learning the trade, instead of studying business. “I loved the time I spent at Iðnskólinn trade school,” he states and adds that he knows many in their fifties who aren’t as enthusiastic about their jobs as they used to be when they started, 20 or 30 years ago. “I’ve been a barber for 34 years, and I’m lucky enough to look forward to every single day,” he is happy to report.