by Michael Daecher
The tv was tuned into the Iowa / Minnesota football game on a sunny Saturday afternoon in mid-November. Iowa was killing, but few of the customers seemed to notice. Above the tv a hand-written sign quoted the Bible, “In all these ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thee” and signed photos of semi-famous locals and knick knacks from 16 years in business cluttered the walls. I sat in the back of the Main Street Beauty Shop and watched as the proprietor of the shop, Albert Bell, played an 
animated game of checkers with a friend. From the looks of it, they’d played a few times before. But Mr. Bell (all the people in the shop call him that) showed me a tally sheet proving he held the advantage over time.
There are three generations of barbers cutting hair at the Main Street Beauty Shop: Albert, his son Michael Sr., and his grandson Michael Jr. They run a successful business, and have done for many years. All were busy clipping, shaving, chatting, and listening (yes, barbers are like bartenders in that way.) During my all too brief visit, Mr. Bell sat with me and shared his philosophy of biweekly haircuts and a good shave.
How did you get started in the business of being a barber?
Mr. Bell: I’m going to go back and give you a little history. I came up here from Southfield, Virginia, where I learned to cut hair. I learned all my techniques at a young age, about 15.
When I came north I cut hair but I didn’t have my master’s license, so I apprenticed under a master barber in Newburgh, a good friend of mine, for a few years. After that I started working for Nabisco, where I stayed for 28 years, until 1990 when, they call it “downsizing”, but I say they laid me off. (laughs)
Then one night I told my wife that I wanted to open a beauty salon, and she thought I was crazy. (laughs) She worked over at West Point for many years, but then she went over to Miss Shadey’s in Newburgh and learned how to be a beautician. That way she could style hair and I could cut.
She started looking for furniture for the shop, and I started looking for a building. I saw the sign in the window here for rent, and we’ve been here for 16 years. We had no idea if it would grow or what would happen.
How long have you been married?
Mrs. Bell: We’ve been married 30 years. We met here in Beacon, when I lived over in Newburgh. Now we have two sons and two daughters. We have 9 grandkids, and we have 8 great grandkids. We’ve been blessed by the grace of God.
How did you decide you wanted to be a barber?
Mr. Bell: There’s a funny thing I’m gonna share with you. I’ve never been to school. Down south I started cutting people’s hair with scissors (up north they call ‘em shears). I would take a scissors and a comb and I would cut people’s hair, and I would cut it low and even, and it would look good! A lot of people can’t cut with shears, you know. I can cut a head with scissors, and give you a good cut. We had no electric clippers, so we had to use scissors. I have an old set of hand clippers that I still keep around the shop.
(Little Mike brings over the clippers)
These are what I learned to cut with. I’d cut 10 or 15 heads of hair with these and I’d get tired. This is history right here. This is what we cut with. No motor. You think, how’s your hand gonna do that?
Little Mike: That’s like something from the Flintstones barbershop right there! (laughs)
Mr. Bell: When I came up here I started taking cosmetology classes, but I didn’t like rolling women’s hair. True story. I didn’t have any money, but Nabsico helped pay for what we wanted to do. I knew how to cut. So I went and took the test for my Master’s license. I had to go down to New York and shave ‘em and do everything. Then I got my license, and I was a Master Barber, and I could cut anywhere in the world.
I was still working at Nabisco and going to school part time.
What was it like working at Nabisco?
When I got the store I was still working at Nabisco as a Pressman. I was a lead man on the machine that printed boxes for Nabisco cookies. We’d set up our machines from A to Z, and you’d have to know what you were doing to get it right.
I never graduated from school, but I was the top guy at my job at Nabisco. I learned the job by taking my job seriously. I think it takes, what, 8 years to be a doctor. I was on the job, working as a Pressman, for 28 years. So I should know what I was doing!
All my friends that I worked with were good people. Some of ‘em come by and get their hair cut once a year or so. One day my wife and I were sitting in a diner over in Newburgh eating lunch, and another fellow was sitting across from us. And we were talking. The guy turned around and said “I worked with you at Nabisco.” He recognized me from the sound of my voice! He introduced me to his wife, and his family. And later he came by the shop to see if I had a copy of his papers from Nabisco. I keep so much stuff that we call this place the Headquarters. (laughs) Well this fella had lost his paperwork from when he worked at Nabisco, and he got sick. So he needed that paperwork to get well.
Have you been down to the Dia: Beacon since it opened?
You know, everybody asks me that! But I know people who been in there and they told me there’s piles of glass on the floor! And they call that art! (laughs) I worked in that factory for 28 years, so one of these days I’ll have to go back and see what it’s all about.
I noticed you do both men’s and women’s hair here.
Right, my wife does the women’s hair and I do the men’s. But we’ve grown a lot over the years, thank God, and we’ve been able to train more people here at the shop.
Mrs. Bell: We have a full time master beautician, Alesia Lunsford, who is Little Mike’s mother. She’s on vacation this week, but she’s normally here doing women’s hair.
We’ve actually had five beauticians who came in, and we helped train them, and then they moved on to start their own shops in Newburgh and Beacon and other places. They got training under me and my husband and they decided to vanish and get their own places, which is good for the community. We try to help everyone in the community, help them learn a skill. We work with people from all different nationalities.
Mr. Bell: My son Michael Sr. started working here when he was ready, and then Little Mike, my grandson. He’s good. We cut all types of hair: straight hair, curly hair, knotty hair, any kind of hair. We just cut. To be successful in the community you have to be good, because there’s plenty of competition. We’re not boasting, but we know how to cut.
Do you shave with a straight razor here? That’s hard to find these days.
Of, definitely! I know how to do that. People don’t do that much anymore. I use the hot towel, just like we used to do it back in the day. Used to be that’s what people would get, a shave and a haircut. But not so much anymore.
We do blends and fades, which isn’t easy to do without showing the lines. That’s not something a lot of new barbers know how to do.
What’s the secret of your success?
I tell people there are two things you have to do to be successful, you have to be nice to the people you work with and you have to do good work. You can’t have attitude. Even if you’re good, people won’t come back.
But I give God all the credit for what we have. I love church, you see. I come from the South, so most people are Southern Baptist down there. A lot of people talk too much about religion, and I don’t like to say too much about it.
I sometimes say the Lord wanted me to do this job because when I’m cutting hair I can see the steeple of my church right out the front window. But you have to be careful when you talk to people about religion. They’ll think you’re a fanatic or something. You have to be careful what you say, because you can’t take it back.
You’ve been on Main Street for 16 years. What was it like when you moved in?
Main Street was in bad shape back then – it looked pretty ragged. But then they started bringing in the antique shops on the West End, and restoring the buildings. Some people are kicking a little bit about the antique shops. But the artwork is so beautiful – let the people come! Who doesn’t want the town to look better – you’d have to be crazy not to want that.
Some people think change is happening too fast.
Sometimes people want things to stay the same, but sometimes you need a change. You think you have a good business, but then they start beautifying the town, and more people are coming in the door. Some days the shop is packed with people.
What was here before your shop?
It was a clothes store and before that I believe it was a bank.
Do you mind if I ask how old you are?
Not at all. I’m 70. And the good Lord blessed me. He kept my eyes good, and my hands good. I’m like old wine. I don’t wear contacts or glasses, and I’m 70 years old! I can stand for 4 or 5 hours at a time cutting hair.
We’ll open at 8:30 or 9 and stay open until people stop coming in. People work jobs, you know, so they’ll come in at night after work. Some people will call and ask to come in after they get off the train from the city, and I tell them I’ll wait for them.
Most people get their hair cut every two weeks. And if they miss a week, I notice.
Do you plan on retiring at any point?
I’m not going to retire. I’m going to keep on going. Whenever I say I’m going to retire all my customers get upset. “Are you gonna’ come to my house and cut my hair?” (laughs) I don’t need to come to your house if I keep the shop open. I’m a people person, so I enjoy doing the work and being around other people.
The funny thing is, most of the people who come in talk about sports, but other people come in and talk about things that are good for your mind, things that are beautiful, and I like that. You’d be surprised at what the young people talk about. They have good minds if you talk to ‘em straight up. A lot of new people come in all the time, and I’ll share something with you: I always learn from the young people. I don’t talk over them. If you listen to them, they’ll listen to you. You’d be surprised what they talk about.
What’s the most surprising thing you’ve heard lately?
One of the kids who came in – he must have been 11 or 12 years old – he asked me “What color is God?” (laughs) That shocked me, I have to tell you.
What did you tell him?
I told him that God is a spirit and doesn’t have a color. Luckily there was a pastor in the shop, so I got him into the conversation pretty quick. (laughs) They talked for a long time.
But the young people are very intelligent. We talk about sports, politics, whatever. As long as you don’t talk down to them, you’ll get to know them pretty well. A lot of times we laugh and say, this is a country barber shop. We’re gonna’ make it a little country. This is home. It’s like family.
I loved reading your article, Mike, like a fairytale!!I
Posted by: Gre Zijlma-Boelema, Sagnes, France | December 18, 2005 at 04:30 PM