Shear nostalgia with Salisbury’s new barber

SALISBURY — Remember going to the barber shop? Remember getting the hot shaving cream and straight razor on the back of the neck treatment as the grand finale of the haircut? Remember leaving, wreathed in the unmistakable fumes of Clubman aftershave?

This is no longer an exercise in nostalgia. Jamie Murphy, a Lakeville resident, has set up shop in the space at the rear of the Salisbury General Store.

Murphy is dedicated to the old-fashioned men’s haircut. Not that he can’t provide something more contemporary than the gent’s “short back and sides.”

It’s more about the atmosphere, right down to the barber pole fixture outside.

Murphy said he’s been cutting hair for seven years.

Since he started cutting hair professionally, “I became obsessed with the old school craft. It really appealed to me.”

A 20-year resident of Lakeville, where he lives with wife Darlene Murphy, who is a paraprofessional at Salisbury Central School, and their daughter Jillian, who attends SCS, Murphy has been thinking about opening a barber shop in Salisbury or Lakeville for some time.

When the space at the General Store became available, he decided the time was right.

The shop’s been open about three weeks so far, and business has been steady.

It is geared primarily toward men. Murphy said he has some experience cutting women’s hair, “But not enough.”

“I would lose sleep over a haircut.”

Murphy has a day job managing an estate in New York state, so he is open Wednesdays and Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., by appointment although walk-ins are welcome.

He left a reporter with this thought: “The difference between a good and a bad haircut is about a month.”