“Whenever I’m here and I have a chance, I come get my haircut,” said Bill Marklevits of Mission Viejo, Calif. Marklevits had his hair cut Tuesday afternoon by Ron Smith at the Red Cedar Barber Shop, 940 Trowbridge Road. Smith has been cutting hair since 1963.
When Reese Olger applied for an open position at the Red Cedar Barber Shop about 12 years ago, after closing his own shop in downtown Lansing, he never imagined he would later become the second owner of the barbershop.
“The fellow I bought it from, Robert Ridenour, is 78 years old and I’m 76 years old now,” said Olger. “I think we’re the two oldest barbers in East Lansing — in years and age now. Both of us starting cutting hair here in the 1950s.”
Before Olger decided to become a barber, he said his father had wanted him to become a farmer.
“I had two cousins who were barbers, and I was a farm boy,” Olger said, who started off cutting his brother’s and father’s hair. “I realized I enjoyed cutting hair, and I went to barber school.”
With Ridenour and two other barbers, Olger provides local men with basic, traditional haircuts at the shop, located at 940 Trowbridge Road. To uphold the traditions of old-fashioned barbershops, the barbers exclusively cut men’s hair using a straight razor to trim the bottom edges and add a finishing touch to the experience with a neck massage.
“Barbering is kind of like an artwork,” Olger said. “Everyone sees through a different set of eyes of what they think looks good or bad. When you start a haircut, it’s like an artist starting to draw a picture.”
Although the shop also used to do facial shaves in addition to the traditional haircut when it opened in 1963, Olger said they would only get one or two people a year who would ask for the shave.
Olger said the shop attracts a mixture of people — from MSU students and professors to retirees and state policemen.
“I enjoy cutting hair and meeting new people from all walks of life and from all over the world,” Olger said. “We get to recognize our customers. One fellow last week told me he’s going back to India at the end of the semester, and he thanked me for my service.”
Since the shop does not accept appointments, Olger said, business fluctuates from week to week. But there are certain days students are more likely to come into the shop for a trim, he said.
“On Fridays, we get a lot of students and on Monday we seem to get a lot of business people,” Olger said.
For Olger, one of the best parts of being in the business is the friendships he has formed during the years he has cut hair.
“I have about two or three customers that I have cut their hair for over 50 years now,” Olger said. “You meet these fellows in the barbershop and you feel like you know their whole family after a while.”
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