Florence barber offers the kindest cut

By Dwight Dana
Morning News reporter
Published: July 19, 2008

The Rev. Howard Williamson, 78, has been cutting hair since he was 11 — much longer than he’s been preaching.

But a saying on the wall in his barber shop at 309 N. Dargan St. sums it all up as far as Williamson is concerned. It reads: “I could have chosen the easy way to do things, but doing things the easy way never makes you the best.”

Williamson is the owner of Williamson’s Barber Shop and pastor of Faith Baptist Church. He’s been cutting hair since 1942 and preaching since 1969.

Harry Robinson, a retired postal worker, was about to nod off while getting a haircut Friday morning. Williamson said he has been cutting Robinson’s hair as long as he can remember.

“I keep coming back because of the way Howard cuts my hair and his brotherly love,” Robinson said with a hearty laugh. “He knows just how I want my hair cut and he’s a good friend.”

The barber chair Robinson was sitting in was manufactured long ago by the Emil J. Paidar Co. of Chicago. Paidar was the leading manufacturer of barber chairs at one time with 70 percent of the market.

It went out of business in the early 1970s.

But the cast-iron, nickel-plated throne is Williamson’s favorite chair.

Robinson also finds it comfortable and almost on par with his haircut.

“That looks just like me,” he said with another laugh as he got up and looked in the mirror behind the chair. “Man, it looks good.”

Jimmie Hart, an employee of Safe Harbor Steel in Florence, slid in the chair next. He asked for a fade haircut.

“A fade is close and clean around the bottom and a little off the top,” Williamson said as his shears hummed.

Umpteen pictures dot the walls at the barbershop. They are of family, friends, customers and lots more. Williamson’s prices are posted on signs to the left and right of the pictures on the front wall. They are:

• Regular cut, $10

• Style cuts (Afro, fades, flattops) $12. Each additional part is $2

• Shaves, clipper, $6, razor, $9

• Hot towel, $11

• Moustache trim, $4

• Eyebrow art, $6

• Edge up outline with clipper, $7, razor, $8

• Women’s edge neck, $7, full $8

• Shampoo, $8

• Mudpack massage, $15

• Plain massage, $10

Williamson has Jeris hair tonic and Osage Rub for those who request them. The directions for Osage are “Apply briskly for that all over tingly feeling invigorating splash for head and face.”

Josiah McClain Jr. didn’t need the Jeris or Osage Rub. The retired Merita Bakery employee has been coming to Williamson for 30 years.

“His good work keeps me coming back, but he doesn’t have much to work on now,” he chortled. “All he’s got to do now is run over my head with the razor and I’m good to go for a couple of months.”

Among the antiques in the barbershop are an old hat rack with a mirror, an Admiral AM radio with a large dial and two small knobs — one for volume and the other for tuning in the station — and an old jar that once held Gordon’s Potato Chips.