Faces in Focus: Local barber likes the job, loves the chatter

Women trust their tresses to a hairstylist. Men, for the most part, just want a haircut.

And when men want a haircut, they're safe from perfumed smells, Cosmopolitan magazine and discussion on the health of their hair at Bob Ouellette's Capitol Barbershop.

What his clientele - "a bunch of real nice guys" - can expect is a quick cut, friendly discussion and the ability to peruse reading selections such as Guns and Ammo, Popular Mechanics, Playboy, Motortrend and for the kids, comic books.

"There are no fancy frills in this place. Just plain ol' haircuts," Ouellette said. "It's more of an old atmosphere, but that's why they come here. Most of my men wouldn't go any where else."

They won't even find a blow dryer. It burned out one day, and Ouellette never replaced it. He doesn't wash hair anyway.

A poster on the wall at Ouellette's simple shop shows a 1950s-era poster notes the "official hairstyles for men and boys." All the styles are short, and Ouellette said if someone with longer hair asked him for a cut, he'd be lost. But, he said, he still shaves around the ears, a trademark of an old-style barber.

"Things change a little bit, but it's basically the same old haircut," Ouellette said. "When you want your hair short, it's like a putting green. The shorter the hair, the more maintenance is required."

Ouellette was born in Reno on Pearl Harbor Day 1944. He lived between Carson City and Southern California for most of his life, but after his graduation from barber school in 1963, moved back to Carson City. As a child, he said he liked going to a barber shop, liked the way the business was run and the daily banter with people you knew. He worked shining shoes and cleaning as a teen at a barbershop behind Cactus Jack's on Spear Street. In 1964 he bought that shop. After Cactus Jack's expanded in 1979, Ouellette moved to his Carson Street location behind the Medicine Shoppe on Long and Carson streets.

A father of two, Ouellette and his wife Karen have been married for almost 36 years. The whole family lives in Carson City.

Roger Laird's wandered into Oullette's shop Wednesday, and immediately began joking about his former Carson High School classmate, who has cut his hair since 1964.

"You aren't in a growing industry," he joked to Ouellette. "He's got job security. The only people who've cut my hair since (1964) are my wife, and if he's on vacation and I'm desperate, I'll go somewhere else."

Laird said having Ouellette cut his hair is "like an old habit."

"I don't want to go somewhere else," Laird said. "I come here for the friendly talk. The guys are here. We talk, we laugh, we have a good time. Bob knows trucks and cars. I know trucks and cars. We talk about trucks and cars. He's resisted making appointments forever. But if what I wanted was efficiency, I'd go somewhere else."

Ouellette countered that he doesn't make appointments because "I'm late for everything, so I couldn't keep appointments anyway." The lack of appointments didn't bother the five men who crowded into his shop Wednesday.

Ron McKimmy said finding a good barber when he moved to Carson six months ago was secondary only to finding a place to live. McKimmy is in the Army National Guard and said a lot of stylists don't know how to cut hair.

"If I don't get the right hair cut, it reflects on me. I don't look professional," McKimmy said. "Every time my hair touches my ears I come in.

"He came highly recommended," McKimmy said of Ouellette. And besides, "it's kind of like Cheers."

Ouellette said barbers are "kind of a dinosaur," but as long as people keep coming, he'll keep cutting hair.

"I have one family where I cut his hair, his son's hair and his grandson's hair," Ouellette said. "I get some families right down the line. It's nice that they think enough of you to keep the family coming."