Limerick's new barbershop has it going on "from the neck up"

A few years after he graduated from Spring-Ford High School, Chad Cook discovered something important about himself: he was not a great carpenter.

A supervisor summed up his limitations succinctly.

"He said, 'you're more of a neck up type of guy,'" Cook recalls, a smile spreading across his face.

That has turned out to be the case, in more ways than one.  Cook was destined to be the man in charge.  As it turned out, though, his line of work would also be from the neck up.  Last month, Cook opened Chad's Professional Barber Shop on Ridge Pike in Limerick.

The shop is in a curiously small building opposite Sunset Road.  The structure once housed an antiques store. Cook gutted and refurbished the space.

"Every guy that comes in says, 'I can't believe it's this big on the inside,'" Cook said.

Cook, 31, knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur someday, but he wasn't immediately sure what type of business he wanted to own.  A clue lay in his childhood.

"Mom always used to have me braid and brush her hair," Cook said. "I was pretty good at it."

So Cook began an apprenticeship with an old-fashioned barber who'd learned his craft in Italy.  He found the former Cincinnati resident to be a quick study.

"You're a natural," Cook recalls his former mentor saying.

"He said he'd never seen anyone pick it up so fast," Cook said.

What does Cook make of the apparent renaissance of old fashioned barber shops?

"In the Seventies, hair got a little longer and salons popped on the scene. It became more of a unisex thing. Guys went where their wives went. Since, I think that guys have realized for the most part that, you know, they're not real comfortable in those environments. Guys these days are going to barbers. They're looking for barbers again," Cook said.

"There's guys my age opening shops. They realize there's a market and they want to cater to that," Cook said.

It seems there is, indeed, a market. Cook reports that business has been brisk.

"I'm already looking for another barber," Cook said.

A men's haircut costs $16. Cook only accepts cash at present, but plans to begin accepting credit card payments soon. Chad's Professional Barber Shop is open Monday to Friday from 8:00am to 8:00pm and Saturday from 7:30am to 5:30pm.