SPRINGHILL, N.S. – Why go to the barber shop, when the barber shop will come to you?
“I can pull up at anybody’s home and they can get a haircut in a barber shop in their own yard,” said Todd Blue.
Called ‘The Barber Zone,’ Blue came up with the idea of a mobile barber shop not long after he returned to his hometown of Springhill last June, after spending the past 22 working in western Canada.
“I was thinking of doing some barbering on the side, but I realized a lot of these small communities in Cumberland County don’t have a barber,” said the 52-year-old.
Blue traveled to different communities to see if there was a demand for a barber.
“I went to Oxford and Pugwash and Parssboro and asked people what they thought, and they seemed excited by the idea.”
Before moving out west, Blue learned to be a barber at Pictou Academy in 1994.
“Alex MacInnis was my instructor and he’s still cutting hair today in New Glasgow. He’s 82-years-old and he’s still barbering.”
As a locomotive operator at oil refineries, Blue always cut hair on the side.
“I like doing fades, I like blending it up with no lines and making it look tight and sharp,” said Blue.
He says good set of hands and eyes is essential to being a good barber.
“I played a lot of sports and I’m handy with my hands, and I like to make things look good,” said Blue. “I like to make it so that when you get out of my barber chair, you can go outside, and your wife will come out of the supermarket, drop her bags, run over, and gives you a big kiss.”
Another secret to being a good barber is to be sociable, an area where Blue excels.
“If I can have a good conversation and put a smile on somebody’s face, whether it be a little boy laughing or a dad laughing or having a couple old guys talking about the past, I’m totally down with that. That’s cool with me,” said Blue. “Everybody has a story. Some can tell a story better than others, but everybody has a story.”
Blue spent the last few months doing the paper work for his business license and updating his master barbers license and, also, getting his mobile barber shop tricked out with everything he needs to serve customers.
“I took me about four for five months to get through all the paper work and about a month to put the bus together,” said Blue.
Starting out, he’s traveling to Parrsboro on Monday, Oxford on Tuesday, Pugwash on Wednesday, Tatamagouche on Thursday, and Springhill and Amherst on Friday and Saturday.
Blue is based in Springhill and says he’s available any night in Springhill.
“If anybody in the evening needs a cut in Springhill, I’ll accommodate them and come to their house,” said Blue. “A lot of people work during the day and can’t take time off, so I can help out.”
There are several ways to contact Blue.
His cell number is 1-780-718-7901, and his home number is 902-597-3930.
He can also be reached on email at [email protected].
