i can't be the only one who's been curious how we got where we are.
when i was a kid, i had heard it explained that the "stripes" were really rags in the early days. that after the barber was done giving you a shave, he would likely have bloody rags that needed to be hang-dried. he also happened to have a spinning pole for that purpose.
something about that explanation always sounded untrue to me. mostly because bloody rags would be a horrible advertisement for a good shave.
there are two things i should add:
2. my research has only ever pointed at the misadventures of flapjack twice.
this was one of those times.
if you've never watched the cartoon you should. but, also, if you've never watched the show you are probably unaware of the big-gummed creep dr. barber, who is unhealthily obsessed with the option of surgery. his name is a bit like snl's adam sandler characters-- they describe exactly what he does. he's both a barber and a doctor.
and, according to research, dr. barber is something of an animated explanation of the barber pole. evidently, most barbers during the medieval days were amateur surgeons as well. dr. barber's insatiable love for surgery is more than creepy: it's accurate.
the barber's pole is loosely based off the white staff a barber/surgeon would carry whilst performing his witchcraft. if you had come for a haircut and, say, a blood-letting, he would ask that you clench the white staff so your veins would bulge. then he would use a mixture of knives and leeches to have at your circulatory system like a derranged orphan with his first set of legos-- unaware of practiced methods, or technique; sloppy, yet entertained fully.
in the end he would wind up with blood-soaked rags which he would wrap around his white staff and leave outside to dry. to dry, and to advertise his bloody businesses.
this was, essentially, the first barber's pole: striped red and white like a violent candy cane.
the problem is my immediate research couldn't explain why modern poles were red, white, and blue. so i continued to find a few theories.
obviously, someone had gone to say that they are the colors of an american flag to celebrate our awesome country. and while that is possible, i find it a bit boring and prefer the following explanation.
some argue that because the town barber was also the town surgeon, he would be present during all births-- cutting umbilical cords and generally admiring stretchy vagina skin. possibly recommending surgery, too. the umbilical cord-- which had one red artery and one blue vein-- was clipped and handed to the proud parents as a souvenir for their middle ages scrapbook.
and it was the supposed inspiration of the blue and red twirling pole. a gigantic spinning umbilical cord. come in for a little snip!
i like that theory because it is slightly horrible. and because, whether the umbilical portion is true or not, the pole was irrefutably birthed from a disgusting period of time. and that absolutely ruins the part of my brain that used to be able to enjoy the romanticism of a barbershop quartet-- which is something that i'm glad to be over.
also because it's such a great juxtaposition of what we see in the current barber's pole that it reminds me how many things exist today that we never stop to question. we see a spinning [potentially] patriotic pole and have no problem saying, "maybe i do need a haircut." but no one stops to think about crowning babies or blood-sucking slugs. all of that is history and we have no interest in it.
it's nice to sometimes know where our symbols come from.
and i feel a bit like a super hero being able to share this knowledge with those of you who didn't already know.
i also feel a little bit gross.
but you're welcome.
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