As The Pole Slowly Stops Turning

by Joseph Belcher, Independent Writer

It’s 6:45 a.m. Saturday morning and Foxy pulls up in front of the barber shop in his 1996 Ford Ranger. There are three cars already parked in front waiting for him and most likely, one of them has been there at least a half an hour, hoping to be first in line.

Larry Means, better known as Foxy, has been a human icon on the Avenue since about 1972. The red, white and blue striped barber pole, outside of “Foxy’s hair Den” at 2018 St. Joseph Avenue, turns 24 hours a day. But how much longer will it keep turning?

“How does a guy stay in business for over 35 years in the same place?” I asked Foxy.

“I just treat people like I would like to be treated, give them the best haircut I can give them and invite them to come back” Foxy said. “You have to take care of the people that take care of you. I always try to get here early, to take care of the early guys and I stay as late as I need to take care of the late guys.”

Since its Saturday, Foxy turns on ESPN instead of the usual MSNBC he watches during the week to keep up on the stock market and shouts “Ok guys, who drove up first?” After that, the conversation and clippers hum well into the afternoon.

Foxy is not a big fellow in stature but his heart and his smile are as big as his generosity. He has been known to have helped many people in many ways; he’s helped people find jobs, cars, gave them stock tips and an occasional loan on a haircut so a fella can go for a job interview. Respectfully he greets everyone that walks in his front door as if they were the mayor.

I have heard people in the shop refer to Foxy as “The mayor of St. Joe Ave.”

“When I first came to St. Joe, there were a lot of small businesses and shops on the Avenue. It’s sad that a lot of them have disappeared” Foxy said. He told me that he started barbering at 2020 St. Joe Avenue in 1970. Then, two years later he opened the shop where it is now and until he semi-retired last year, he was there almost every day. Nowadays, Foxy only works on Tuesdays, Thursdays and a half a day on Saturdays.

It used to be that in the 60s and early 70s, mothers took their boys to the barber shop on a regular basis. I asked Foxy when he thought it all started to change.

“When the Beatles came here and guys started wearing long hair a lot of the guys [other barbers] didn’t want to cut long hair, so they closed up shop, got different jobs or just retired. I went to trade shows and seminars and learned how to cut long hair. It was sort of like, sink or swim” Foxy explained.

The décor at Foxy’s is about as traditional as it can get. Sports memorabilia on the wall, the smell of hair tonic and Well Comb in the air and a rack full of magazines (the Playboy magazines are under the counter). There are two old, yet very functional barber chairs rising from the floor. In fact if someone were to look up the word, “barber shop” in a dictionary, you might just see a picture of “Foxy’s Hair Den.”

“What do you think is happening to all the barber shops” I asked Foxy.

“The chain shops are taking over. People want to get in and out real quick and those places cater to that. The girls working there do an okay job plus they are teaching them clipper cuts in school these days” Foxy said.

“And what do you think about the State Board of Professional Barber Examiners joining forces with the State Board of Cosmetologist?” I asked.

“I think it was necessary for the boards to join forces in order for the Barber’s Board to stay in existence” Foxy said. In Missouri, there are over 30,000 licensed cosmetologists, compared to only 2,000 licensed barbers. “There are not many of us [barbers] left” Foxy said.

According to the records available at the State Board of Barbers Examiners, today there are less than 2,000 barbers registered in the state of Missouri. In contrast, in 1978 there were nearly 5,000 registered barbers. At 66 years old, Foxy will eventually join the other list of former barbers.

“Foxy,” I said, “how do you think you will feel when you turn off your barber pole and lock the door for the last time?”

There was a short bit of silence and emotion overtook his face as he held back a tear and simply said, “Well, I will be very sad, but I hope that as long as I enjoy it and I feel good, I will be working at least part time for quite some time.”

Editor’s note: People like Foxy are hard to come by. St. Joseph has been lucky enough to have him here, investing in St. Joe. Thank you Foxy for being a regular Joe!