Razor Strap12
Though he is long gone, Mr. Gardner’s barbershop is still in operation today and I recently visited that barbershop for nostalgic reasons, my first time in decades. The three original chairs are still there, but only one (Mr. Gardner’s original chair, in the front window of the shop) had a razor strap hanging on it. Butterflies.
I introduced myself to the one barber who was there and told him my history with the shop. He appeared to be perhaps younger than me. He told me he was the son of one of the other two barbers who worked with Mr. Gardner. I told him I remembered his dad. He told me to feel free to have a look around. Not much had changed. I noted to him that I remembered his dad as a friendly, nice guy. He laughed and added, “Yes, he was. After Mr. Gardner retired my dad bought the shop and the first chair (in the window) became his. I also moved dad’s strop from his former chair to this chair, so that’s my dad’s original strop. My brothers and I became well acquainted with that strop. Even my nice guy dad had limits and didn’t hesitate to borrow it to take home when my brothers or I needed ‘tending to’ as he used to call it. You’re about my age so I suspect you know what that means.”
“Yeah, you all got lickings with that razor strap.”
“Sure did, we were hellions and that strop saw plenty of double duty on our butts. Believe me, there are hazards to having a dad who is a barber.” We both laughed.
Butterflies…big time.
Comments
james133 2 years ago
I grew up in east Boston, MA in the 50's and 60's. My uncle was a barber. He gave my father a razor strap and my father left 6" as a handle and sliced it the long way into several strips, exactly like a cat of nine tails. He used to strap the living shit out of me and my 3 brothers for doing the least thing wrong. If he wasn't around and we misbehaved my mother would get a large wooden cooking spoon and let us have it with that. Being 4 boys close in age we were always horsing around. Nice parents ha? Its OK I forgive them. My mother who is 86 y.o. now deserves a medal. She had a hot meal for us 7 nights a week. She made our beds, did our laundry and kept the house clean. It taught me to never lay a hand on my own children.
sse4fun 2 years ago
While I had no interest or inclinations to be on the receiving end of a razor strap, I was well aware that my neighbor's family was very familiar with it. There was some residual effect for other kids in the apartment complex, including myself. We all knew that this father was the disciplinarian in his family. We were scared to death of him. A visit to that apartment, and view of the bathroom and toilet, reminded us that getting out of line wasn't wise. That razor strap was always on the lid of the toilet and the enema bag hanging on the back of the door.
I posted a story where I recalled Sonny's punishment for peeking on his sister while she got an enema. I don't know if the strapping was worse for him or the subsequent enema. He obviously hated both and all of the neighbors knew it!