A straight-talking barber

Dennis Lancy of Charleroi, Pa., enjoys listening to barber Frank DeLost reminisce about his days in the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression while receiving a trim in DeLost's Strabane shop.

By Scott Beveridge

Frank DeLost is one of those old-fashioned, hard-to-find barbers who still uses a straight razor sharpened on a leather strap to smooth the necks of his customers.

On top of that, the 88-year-old guy has a barber shop a block away from one owned by his brother, Tony, in the small town of Strabane in southwestern Pennsylvania.

So I ask Frank, "Didn't you ever worry about cutting into each others' business?"

He replies, "Our father was a barber here, too. He always said, 'It doesn't matter as long as they come to us.'"

DeLost hasn't had to worry much about business. He's more concerned about conversation, talking with his customers, some of whom have the most-stylish comb-overs at that age when they've developed bald spots on their heads. Some days there are guys seated four deep in his tiny shop beside the kitchen in his house.

He has never kept a radio or television there, or stocked it with magazines and newspapers. Those things, he said, would distract his clients from talking to him about their lives or the problems of the world.

"Oh, so you are a psychologist AND a barber," I say.

He says he's not so sure about that, but just enjoys a good conversation.

One of his best conversation pieces is the sign on the mirror indicating his haircuts cost $5 apiece in an era when some men pay hundreds of dollars to style their hair with big girly bangs like those worn by the teen sensation Justin Bieber. Even the 33-year-old NFL quarterback Tom Brady is sporting a wannabe Bieber hairdo these days. Seriously, what is Brady thinking these days?

Meanwhile, DeLost said he never changed the price of his haircuts as a joke.

"Some guys don't think anything about crumbling a five dollar bill in my hand. Others have learned how to spell the word tip," he said.

I had the pleasure of meeting DeLost to photograph him for a story in the Observer-Reporter newspaper that employs me in Washington, Pa. I could have stayed in his shop that day for hours listening to him gab about his life. He seems like a really nice guy.

He started cutting hair in his father's basement when he was 10 years old, practicing on his brothers.

"When I turned 13, I started cutting elementary kids' hair for 10 cents a head," he said in the O-R article written by Karen Mansfield.


These days, though, he has to be among the last of his breed. That is a shame.

Barber retires after 70 years in business

By Christie Campbell

AVELLA, Pa. – Dominick DeFilippis was only 14 years old when he began cutting men's hair.

Now 84, DeFilippis plans to retire from the business he has been in for 70 years. Within the next month or two, he plans to close his shop in the small community of Avella.

Many of the men who had been DeFilippis' customers have passed away, and the younger generation is no longer interested in going to a barber shop, he said.

His shop on Campbell Street is a reminder of days when life was simpler and men stopped at a barber shop for a close shave and a haircut, taking the time to joke and gossip with friends and neighbors.

The shop has a vintage flavor with its three barber chairs dating to 1915, marble-topped antiseptic cabinets and razor strops. Unfortunately, the old red, white and blue striped barber pole outside his shop was stolen about 10 years ago. It was too costly to replace, he said. Today he turns on a revolving red light to signal when the shop is open.

An avid hunter, DeFilippis has photographs of his hunting trophies such as deer and turkey hanging in the shop, as well as photographs of his family. He won't miss working that much, he said, because it will give him more time to hunt.

DeFilippis initially learned the business from his father.

"I watched him, and I learned how to cut hair before I went to barber school," he explained.

He attended the Ideal Barber School in Pittsburgh during the summers, staying with his uncle. The school also operated a shop where customers paid 25 cents for a haircut from the students.

"When they saw what I could do, they put me up front," he said.

In the DeFilippis shop, haircuts were once 50 cents. Today he charges $10, $12.50 for long hair.

"I can give a nice haircut in 15 minutes," he said.

DeFilippis isn't too fond of today's hairstyling salons, and confesses he chuckles when he sees the way some women cut men's hair.

"They don't know how to do it," he said.

In addition to his dad, DeFilippis' brothers Pat and Frank cut hair. Back then the coal mines were operating, and DeFilippis remembers two theaters, a lumber yard, a bakery and a half-dozen grocery stores being in town. There were many men in Avella needing their services.

"We were busy all the time," DeFilippis said.

Although his customer base has dwindled, he still has a few who come from Follansbee or Wellsburg, W.Va., and one woman calls for an appointment whenever her son from Cleveland is planning to visit.

He and his wife, Mary, had four children, but only the youngest, Frank, followed in the family's business. He operates a hairstyling shop in Waterdam Plaza in McMurray.

(This article first appeared in the Observer-Reporter newspaper.)