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The history of Barbering

Barbering was introduced to Rome in 296 B.C. where all free men of Rome were required to be clean-shaven, while slaves were forced to wear beards – and hence ‘barbarians’ as the name used during that period to describe tribes who were bearded. As a part of Roman daily tradition, barbering also became the forefront for social gathering, debates and gossip, few Roman tonsores became wealthy and influential, running shops that were favourite public locations of high society.

In the Middle Ages Barbers often served as surgeons and dentists, in addition to hair cutting, they performed surgery, bloodletting and leeching, fire cupping,  extraction of teeth, neck manipulation, cleansing of ears and scalp, draining of boils, fistula and lancing of cysts with wicks; earning them the name “barber surgeons”. Interestingly, this is where the barber pole originated – featuring red and white spiralling stripes, the barbers poll indicated the two crafts, surgery in red and barbering in white. It wasn’t until surgeons were entered into British war that the two occupations saw a divide.