Photo by Jon Anderson
Randy McArthur cuts the hair of Kenny Haynes at the Vestavia Barber Shop on Oct. 30, 2024.
Randy McArthur has been a barber at the Vestavia Barber Shop for 45 years and has cut hair a total of 52 years.
Q: What made you decide to get into this profession?
A: I didn’t really know what I wanted to do out of high school. My dad owned some duplex apartments, and the guy that owned the barber school downtown lived in one of them, and just talking to him, I decided I’d give it a try. That was 1971 that I started barber school, in ’72 I graduated and went to work in a shop over by the old Eastwood Mall called King’s Palace. I worked there for five years and bought into a barber school in Roebuck with the fella that owned King’s Palace. I ran it for two years, and during that time, I had three different partners in a two-year span, so one of my students’ dad owned this shop. I sold my part of the school to my last partner and came over and joined her and her dad here. That was in ’79. At that time, we were two miles north of here. The shop opened up in the old shopping center top of the hill there [on U.S. 31]. The very first one when you come into Vestavia on the right there. Three months later, we moved to the south end of that shopping center and stayed there for 10 years. We were looking across Kentucky Avenue in what was Sears garden shop at the time. There was a Wall Shoe Hospital and Pete’s Hot Dogs and us on that side of the shopping center. Then we moved here in ’89. Somewhere in the mid-’90s, I sold my part of the shop to Donna McLaurin, who was the daughter of the owner, but I continued to work for her.
Q: What do you like about it?
A: I love the creativity of it, the neighborhood, the people. I got to know a lot of good people, the family at the shop. Everybody that works here are like family.
Q: Do you have any generations of customers?
A: Probably up to four generations of family members.
Q: What’s the most unusual request you’ve ever had from a customer?
A: Back in the 80s, we had a lot of kids that wanted a lot of designs and things on the side of their head, like Batman or something. I don’t know if I ever actually did that though.
Q: I know this is a barber shop, but do y’all do any color work?
A: No, I used to do perms here. I did a few of those back in the ’70s.
Q: Tell me some of the things people talk about when they come in and sit in your chair.
A: It’s confidential.
Q: You don’t have to give particular details that identify anybody, but types of things people talk about?
A: You definitely don’t want to talk religion or politics too much. We’ve never really had that many people get into it as far as customers interacting. … They do talk football, basketball, things like that. This day and time, a lot of people want to talk politics and such, but you have to kind of feel them out and see really what side they’re on before you really say much. A few years ago, two little blonde-headed kids got out in the middle of the floor and started boxing and fighting each other. The momma just watched. I just looked over and laughed, and she said, “The little one always wins.”
Q: If you weren’t doing this, what else would you do?
A: I originally thought I wanted to be an artist and paint. I do that a little bit as a hobby. I do some portraiture kind of stuff. I haven’t done any in a long time. I always heard [about] starving artists, so I just decided that probably wasn’t going to be a thing I needed to do.
Q: Do you have other hobbies?
A: I like to travel. I like to go up to the mountains. I used to hike up in the Smokies and on the Appalachian Trail, but I haven’t done much of that lately. With my old age, it’s harder to get going. I play the guitar a little bit, just for my own enjoyment, not good enough for anyone to listen to really. I used to sing with The Warblers.
Q: What about the clientele here? Is it all male? Do you have a mixture of male and female?
A: We have a mixture. Ninety percent male. We have a few ladies. Every age, from toddlers to 100s. We have one customer that’s 107.
Q: Has anybody famous ever come in here?
A: Chris Hammonds. He played for Vestavia, and then he went on to the pros and played for the Cincinnati Reds, the Braves and the Yankees, I think. He was a pitcher — a starting pitcher for a few years and then he became a relief pitcher later. He’s been retired a few years now.
Q: What made you decide you wanted to come work here in this shop?
A: Donna was a student of mine in the barber school. They asked me to come and join them and buy into the shop with them. Just loved them. I spent a lot of time with them before joining them. I was just good friends with the family.
Q: How long do you plan to keep cutting hair?
A: I only cut three days a week now, so I’m semi-retired. As long as I can stand and hold my arms up and think straight — two out of three ain’t bad.
Q: How old are you?
A: 72 as of Nov. 14.
Q: What makes you want to stick with it?
A: I love what I do, and the people. I just don’t want to sit down and sit in my recliner and become a recliner potato or couch potato. Just stay busy and last a little longer probably.
