Within the old leather barber chairs have sat multiple generations of friends and co-workers — their faces scrunched up tight against the first clip of the scissors in childhood — now grown up and comforting their own children. Bob Hayslett was such a customer, who never trusted another barber until he found himself at the Clip Joint.
“My mom cut my hair all my life before I came here,” he said.
The small-town shop is frequently a hangout for news, gossip and laughter. Daughters Puddy Turner and Bunny Long, who now cut hair at the shop, can remember their father gluing quarters to the floor to watch customers try to pick them up, and the pocket money they would get offering 50-cent shoe shines in the corner.
“All the old men wanted their shoes shined by Dad’s little girls and it was fun,” Long said.
Displayed across the old paneled walls are trophies from the Senior Olympics, model ships and a smudged yellow hard hat from Turner’s 47-year career at the AK Steel mill in Middletown. It’s just some of the “600 million things” he does to keep busy, Puddy explained.
And Turner said he hopes to add more memories around the joint, and “fully intends to live minimally to 100” before he calls it quits. His father, who worked in the coal mines as a young man, lived just 80 days short of 100, so Turner said he thinks it is a safe bet he has a long life ahead of him.
“I thought I’d like to have something to do when and if I ever decide to retire,” Turner said.
“He’s still in his prime,” Long said.
Bob Turner’s Clip Joint is located at 407 S. Main St. For more information, call (937) 746-7776.
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