I wasn’t there, but I can imagine all sorts of details. The quiet glee from the barber as yet another shaggy salon guy takes a seat in the sturdy barber chair for the first time. A crisp cotton cape is fastened around his neck instead of the pink or purple nylon cape his former salon used.
I’m sure these seasoned barbers could tell when these new shaggy clients were a bit nervous to have their curated mops buzzed off. I’m sure a lot of that head shoving and oster plowing was administered as quickly as possible to get him past the point of no return. For as common as it was for a center-part feathered mop guy to walk in and request the Oliver North military cut, there had to be a couple guys who chickened out when the barber asked “are you sure??”
There must have been barbers who sensed the nervousness, and, instead of plowing the clippers straight up the back, lopped off the bangs with a sharp pair of shears. Letting the bangs fall in plain sight. I bet these barbers really enjoyed these transformations.
I also have to imagine the floors of these shops were just covered in huge clumps of thick hair at all times. Not very often you see an entire cape full of hair after a haircut (especially at an old school classic barber) so I have to think these barbershop floors were covered more than usual during this Ollie North era. I wonder what the long haired guys thought when what walked in and saw all that hair on the floor. Knowing their locks would soon be added to the pile, and then tossed in the trash bin at the end of the day.
I wasn’t there but damn I wish I had been. 
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As a guy that grew up in the 70s with long hair and experienced the 'hair wars' during those days, I grew a fascination with short military haircuts.
Throughout high school in the late 70s long center parted haircuts were the norm and the idea of getting a tapered off the ears cut was not something I would ever want, though I secretly fantasized about it. Wanting to fit in, I kept my hair long. Then the 80s came and ushered in the polished salon haircuts. Still long but sometimes off the ears, sometimes gelled, but not tapered. I would go to a salon every other month to get mine feathered and trimmed still center parted and over the ears and collar.
Then to my shock, the Ollie Haircut became the rage. I remember seeing news stories that interviewed barbers that were seeing a sudden resurgence of the classic tapered haircut. The urge was too much so I got up the nerve to go to a barberbshop for the first time in years. He had a poster in the window that advertised "classic cuts & styling" and one that actually read "We do the Ollie cut". I asked the barber for "the Ollie". He didn't ask for any other details. So there I as in his chair not really knowing what to expect. The suddenly, I heard the sound of the Oster Clippers from behind me. He shoved my head down and I could feel the clippers plow up the back of my hair. Man, that was a feeling. In the end I left with it tapered short up the back, up the sides above the ears, the top taken down to maybe 2 inches, front above the eyebrows, and parted to the side. It had to have been the most exhilarating haircut experience ever.
Anyone else remember the Ollie Haircut trend?
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on April 25, 2025, 12:41 am, in reply to "