Gleaning Facebook: Grady's Barber Shop

 The interior of my grandfather's barber shop in Milstead Georgia. Daddy Shaw stood behind the chair to the right. See the cabinetry behind him with towels and hair tonic bottles. In the two mirrors you can see the radiator, the hat rack (my mother still owns that) the shoe-shine stand (a spindle chair bolted to a two-step box with shoe rests and drawers for paste wax, brushes, cloths, and blacking for the soles.) There's a decal on the left mirror for Knapp Shoes (Daddy Shaw sold those in the shop and door-to-door). I usually sat in the chair to the left when I wasn't shining shoes, to better hear Daddy Shaw's stories.

Howard Smith:

My dad was a barber until I went off to college. He owned his two chair shop but he worked alone. For awhile, he also sold insurance and kept his office in the back. He worked 6 days a week but like in many small Southern towns he did close Wednesday afternoons. After working till 5 pm or so he would make calls to sell insurance. On the Wednesday afternoons he'd work on our farm. He also helped found the local bank and the only times I ever knew him to close his barber shop was to attend bank board meetings just a few blocks up the street. Eventually he took a job with the Department of Revenue with the State of South Carolina and rented his barber shop to someone. Thanks for reminding me of a time long gone.

Terrell Shaw

Sounds a lot like Daddy Shaw, one of the finest men I have ever known. I lived for that week in the summer that I got to spend at Mama Shaw's house and Dddy Shaw's Barber Shop. He sold Kirby Vacuums, Knapp Shoes, and Singer Sewing Machines. He had a second barber in the shop briefly, they say, but not in my memory. So that second chair was usually mine. For a little kid it was great entertainment just figuring out all the different ways to adjust that chair - a Koken, I think.

Galen Dale Foster

Terry I like you sat in that chair many times waiting for MR. Grady to cut my hair. When he finished my hair it was time for him to shave my neck. I could hardly stand for my neck to be shave it gave me chill bumps and he knew it. He would say Galen ready to have your neck shaved and I would hesitantly yes sir. I remember the shoes and I remember the Kirby Vacuum Cleaner that mother had which was bought from MR. Grady. He was a really fine man. Great memories. Terry I always looked forward to the week you spent with your grandparents because you and I always got to spend time together.

Laurie Craw

Wonder how many kids will grow up to tell stories about how their Daddies and Grandaddies sold stuff on Ebay?

Virginia M. McChesney

Lovely to see how you became who you are!

Terrell Shaw

I only lived in Milstead my first three years (and a week every summer for several years of my childhood) but the people there certainly have had a big influence on me. Part of my heart will always reside there.

Austin Matthews

Awesome!

Terrell Shaw

I'm not sure how well this beat up old picture (taken with a Polaroid camera after Daddy Shaw's funeral in 1965) shows how neatly the shop was kept. The hair tonic and talc jars and bottles were neatly arranged, the various towels were folded and stacked neatly. The mirrors were clean. The hair was kept swept up. I can see him in my mind's eye with a broom and that long-handled dust pan quickly tidying the floor. It felt almost like a doctor's office.

Oh, and I suppose all that is left of that place is the small "portable" shoe-shine stand that I think dates to the first shop up near the school and a small closed sign. The hat-rack was lost in one of Mother's moves since Daddy's death.

I am told that the barber chairs were Berninghaus Co. Hercules chairs. I would love to find out what happened to the chairs, the big shoeshine stand, and the Grady's Barber Shop sign! Mother saved the small shoeshine stand (with my Daddy's initials carved in the seat) from the trash pile.