The Cutting Edge > Hampden barber succeeding despite dwindling industry

You won’t find any photographs of neatly styled models at Maurice’s Barber Shop in Hampden.

Besides a stack of magazines and the pungent — yet welcome — scent of Barbasol and shaving foam, you’ll find Maurice Robitaille and his knack for a speedy haircut coupled with some good conversation.

In an age when the barber is a dying breed, Robitaille’s shop is regularly packed with men waiting for a sit in his chair. And a recent Saturday was no exception.

In the 42 years that the Hampden barber has cut hair for a living, he has seen many of his peers leave the business.

“It’s a miracle any of us are still around,” Robitaille said of the fierce competition he has faced since the boom in hair salons and stylists. “It’s just the way things are going, I think it was the long-hair phase that did it.”

Robitaille acquired the Main Road building where his barber shop is located years ago. He has experienced his share of tough times in the business.

“I had to apply for a job in a restaurant when things got close, but a barber in Winterport closed up shop and I managed to get by a little easier,” he said.

Robitaille thinks, invariably, that barber shops will continue to disappear. “Barber shops, as time goes on, will go the way of the shoe cobblers; it’s not that far off,” he predicted.

“Compared to a salon, there’s no money in it,” he said. “A beauty shop charges something like $12 for a man’s haircut, and I charge $5. Nobody wants to be a barber.”

Yet many men insist that their hair be cut by a barber.

“I’ve been coming to this building for 45 years,” said Derwin Goode of Hampden.”It’s convenient since I get a good haircut and I’m in and out quickly,”

“I’ve been coming here for a while,” said Peter Tubbs. The Newburgh man says he likes the ease of coming to the shop without having to call ahead for an appointment. “I just show up and Maurice cuts my hair the way I like it.”

Robitaille didn’t plan on a career as a barber. If it hadn’t been for a fateful talk in 1956 with his future father-in-law, he might never have learned the trade.

Robitaille was working as a store clerk when he was laid off by his employer. His girlfriend’s father sat him down and urged him to make use of the GI Bill and enter a trade school — possibly a barber’s school.

“I said why not. I was used to working inside and standing up, and I knew how to meet and greet people. All I had to do was learn the trade,” the barber recalled, adding with pride, “In my first full year as a barber I nearly doubled my salary. Now how’s that for a raise?”

“Ninety-nine percent of barbers love what they do, otherwise they wouldn’t do it,” Robitaille replied when asked if he enjoys cutting hair. “You meet lots of people — all different kinds.”

Of his most memorable clients, Robitaille remembers the time the local undertaker requested that he give a haircut to a corpse.

“The undertaker requested that I give the guy a flat-top,” he recalled. “He was already embalmed and I couldn’t move him. I was so scared I was shaking.”

Conversation in Robitaille’s tiny shop frequently revolves around sports and local politics. While the talk never becomes too serious, the debate often is quite lively.

On this Saturday, each client left with a smile on their face and a tip in Robitaille’s hand.

“Sometimes you can’t lose. And that was definitely one of them,” said Robitaille, reflecting on his decision to become a barber.