The Story of Hair: The History of Barbering

Barbering is one of the oldest professions in history, and there is more to its story than cutting hair alone. I became interested in this topic after reading an article published by the History Channel titled "Why are barber poles red, white and blue?". The article shares that "barber pole’s colors are a legacy of a long-gone era when people went to barbers not just for a haircut or shave but also for bloodletting and other medical procedures". On the pole, the red represented blood, the white bandages, and the blue veins. ​

According to the Encyclopedia of Medical History by Roderick E. McGrew, barbers who offered medical services were referred to as "barber-surgeons", and along with trimming hair they also "bled, cupped, leeched, gave enemas [and] pulled teeth". These procedures were recognized by physicians during the Middle Ages, but deemed too menial for doctors to perform. This led to monks, who often cared for the sick at monasteries, to start conducting surgical procedures. Barbers frequently worked at monasteries because Roman Catholic clergymen were required to remove their facial hair per a papal decree in 1092 (2). Monks would borrow the barbers' sharp instruments, which eventually led to barbers offering surgical services themselves (2).

As you can imagine, this raised many questions about who was qualified to provide medical procedures. Should only university trained professionals facilitate them? Was apprenticeship training enough? Should one person be allowed to cut hair, conduct dental work and perform surgery? The debate unfolded in different ways across Europe. 
​
Southern France, Spain and Italy
In these regions, barber-surgeons saw their status constantly fluctuate from revered “knowledge healer” to “medical conman”. Their relevance to healthcare didn't receive much recognition because medicine and surgery were never treated as separate professions. In 1254, Bruno da Longobucco, an Italian physician who wrote on surgery, complained about barbers performing phlebotomies and scarifications (1). It was the first public sign of physicians' dissent towards other professions encroaching on the market for medical services.

Northern France
Demand for surgical services in this region became so high that it required an abundance of surgeons to meet it (1). Barber-surgeons were able to respond to the demand faster than university graduates because they had no formal certification process in place before entering the field. Many physicians felt the skill and training required to practice medicine was threatened by the number of barber-surgeons performing surgeries, so some medical facilities started banning operations to distinguish doctors from surgeons (1). Despite this, France legitimized the barber-surgeon field by establishing the College de St Cosme (Côme) in 1210, which taught both physicians and surgeons in Paris. However, on campus there was still an issue of class between the faculty teaching each subject. Professors who wore long-robes were physicians entitled to conduct surgeries, while those who wore short robes still needed to pass certain exams and apprenticeship hours to do so. In quiet rebellion, the short robed faculty members partnered with barber-surgeons outside of the college, and began teaching them anatomy lessons in exchange for their sworn allegiance to the short robed division of the school. In 1499, barber-surgeons sought more autonomy, mainly in the form of demonstrations via their own cadavers (1). A power struggle ensued, with the short robed division of the college withdrawing their support. The short robed faculty eventually acquiesced to the long robed faculty in 1660, essentially acknowledging physicians' superiority over the surgical profession at the time. Outside of universities, the number of barber-surgeons continued to rise, but the quality of their services deteriorated without access to proper schooling (1). 

England
Similar to France, physicians in England initially disliked surgeries. A surgeons guild was created in 1368 that joined forces with physicians in 1421 (1). Despite this, the Guild of the Barbers of London received a charter from Edward the IV himself in 1462. This likely elevated the barber-surgeon's class and seniority enough to influence a future partnership between the Guild of Surgeons and the Company of Barbers in 1540, which together became the United Barber-Surgeon Company (1). This organization lasted for over two centuries, until 1745, when England also saw barbers and surgeons part ways as the need for university education in medicine gained social approval. At this time surgeons formed the Royal College of Surgeons, which is still operating today (8). 

Check out the timeline below to see how the barber-surgeon profession evolved into the 18th century. ​

Timeline Sources
(1) 'Encyclopedia of Medical History' (1985) Internet Archive. Available at: https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofme1985mcgr/page/30/mode/2up (Accessed: 6 October 2020). 
(2) ‘Hairdresser’ (2011) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hairdresser (Accessed: 6 October 2020). 
(3) ‘Ambroise Paré’ (2020) Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ambroise-Pare (Accessed: 6 October 2020). 
(4) ‘Barber surgeon’ (2011) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber_surgeon (Accessed: 6 October 2020). 
(5) Nix, E. (2018). ‘Why are barber poles red, white and blue?’, History Stories, 22 August. Available at: https://www.history.com/news/why-are-barber-poles-red-white-and-blue (Accessed: 6 October 2020). 
(6) ‘Black Death’ (2020) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death (Accessed: 6 October 2020). 
(7) 'History of the Company' (2014) The Worshipful Company of Barbers. Available at: https://barberscompany.org/history-of-the-company/ (Accessed: 6 October 2020). 
(8) ‘Royal College of Surgeons of England’ (2020) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Royal_College_of_Surgeons_of_England&action=history (Accessed: 7 October 2020). 

This bit of Hair History was found at the Hairlooks Blog