Price of an Amateur Haircut

[NMVolunteer]

I am trying to figure out a reasonable price for a haircut in 1861-1862, especially one administrated by a soldier at a fort. I have read accounts of companies/batteries with one person who could be trusted to hold scissors, especially at camps filled with volunteers. I am assuming that they didn't give away free haircuts, but the accounts only focus on an anecdote or incident and do not bother with petty details like prices. The only price I could find while searching this website was a wartime-inflated price at a civilian barbershop in the South.

Or were free haircuts a thing in the old Army?

[Fauxban]

Re: Price of an Amateur Haircut

I always thought that in New Mexico the Mescaleros offered free haircuts.

In all seriosity I can't find anything definitive online. Indeed my searches for 1860s haircut(s) or Barber(s) were completely fruitless. None of the Jobs/Wages resources even mention the trade. I suspect somewhere beyond my ken, my library, or access there exists some notation. We'll likely find mention in some memoir "__gave Bob 3 cent for a harecut." or something like it. Or perhaps a book of period manners, of which I have none, might broach the subject. 'Tis an interesting question, and a fair one at that. I'll keep my eyes open for references, and have queried the National Barber Museum (https://www.nationalbarbermuseum.org/), thus far without reply.

If I may be permitted an anecdote, my personal experience of a "camp haircut" occurred at Olustee one year. A member of our detachment was a state licensed hairdresser, a great big bear of a man. Though we teased him about the appellation, Phil always corrected us when we called him a barber, reminding us he catered to ladies as well. Unbeknownst to us he diligently acquired period combs, scissors and razors. On Sunday morning, Phil announced to the battery he was offering camp haircuts at no charge, and in return, no bitchin'. We quickly piled three ammunition boxes into a "chair" and lined up. Using his tools, talent and gum blanket half a dozen of us were leisurely shorn atop that throne, to the wonder of our passing visitors. We quickly attracted a sizable, if transient, audience. No less than two reenactors, and several more tourons, were heard to ask "Is that a REAL haircut?", as scissors flew, sending locks to the sand! It was an interesting coupe of hours, variously as observer, subject, and interpreter. Those lil' hairs annoyed me for the rest of the day adding to the enjoyable experience linking the past with my present.

Please share your anecdotes and incidents, even if they are priceless. This could become a useful research thread for personal impressions and material culture

[James Brenner]

Re: Price of an Amateur Haircut

There are several accounts of camp followers washing soldiers' clothing and cooking for set fees in earlier wars and I wonder if something similar happened with haircuts as well.