Barbershop is place to go
School is hoping to revive an old trend

By Tim Logan
Times Herald-Record
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Middletown – In a metrosexual age, two Middletown men are going old school.
Barber school, that is.
Seneca King and Kevin Hennessey last week opened the area's only barber college, the Hudson Valley Barber Institute.
They hope to make it a place where aspiring scissorsmiths can learn a trade that's been plied for centuries. But it might be a tough sell.
Licensed barbers – who primarily do men's hair and shaving – are a somewhat rare breed. New York has about 8,100, according to the Department of State.
Much more common are cosmetologists – licensed to do more advanced styling but required to take more education. They number about 112,000.
While beauty schools abound, the state has just a handful of barber colleges, most in New York City. Most who do pursue a barber license spend two years in apprenticeship before taking the state test. The Institute's 17-week course is faster and, King said, allows for more one-on-one training. That means better barbers.
"We want to raise the standard in the industry," he said.
Classes began Tuesday, and so far there's just a handful of students. But people are seeing the lights on and the barber pole, Hennessey said, and they're calling to sign up.
"You've got to open up to get it going," he said.
The full-time course runs 30 hours a week for 17 weeks. It costs $2,000. King, a licensed master barber at Cachet in Middletown, will give classes and demonstrations on how to cut hair and give a proper shave. He'll also have students take clippers in hand and start cutting.
"That's the best way to do it," he said.
More advanced students will ply their trade on the heads of the public, for a reduced fee.
If they pass, the Institute will give them a certificate of completion and help them prepare for New York state's exam for a master barber license. King hopes to help with job placement, too.
"A lot of people want jobs in this field," he said. "We want to help them."
They want to refill the ranks of a profession that's been slowly drying up.
Mall salons and hair stylists have become more popular in recent years. But Middletown still has several traditional barbershops, and Hennessey remembers his dad's tales of the barbershop as a comfortable place to go.
He's hearing that again, he said, and thinks a place to learn the trade will help bring barbershops back.
"We want to get younger people into it," Hennessey said. "Guys in their mid-teens and their mid-20s, a lot of people are going to the barbershop."