Lakewood Lore

Old hair styles don't disappear, they just 'fade' away

Remember the old saying, "Shave and a haircut, two bits" (two bits being a quarter, in case you've forgotten)?

Well, today, much of the barbering trade has advanced into what has become "hair styling," which generally carries a price tag of $15-$17-- without the shave.

It's unfair, however, to harp on the past-vs.-present cost differential. The stylist has introduced new professionalism and added dimension -- and, of course, there has been the behemoth known as inflation, which has affected everything.

John W. Ceccoli, proprietor of one of Lakewood's oldest barbershops, has seen many changes in the hair industry, and views most of them as solid hits in a whole new ball game.

He and Robert Fazi, his associate for more than 20 years, are cosmetologists as well as barbers, dealing in perms, colors and cuts for both men and women. They went to All-State Barber College together.

Ceccili also attended several schools in Europe to gain new ideas and hone his styling skills.

In addition to Fazi, Ceccoli's staff includes two men and three women stylists, a manicurist and three receptionists.

There's considerable history at Ceccoli's location. Before he bought the business at 13616 Detroit Ave. about 25 years ago, when haircuts were $1.75, the place was known as the Detroit-Giel Barbershop, and Louis Caravella was the barber.

Caravella started there in 1932. He also founded a beauty school in Lakewood and was the first barber in the Midwest to do razor cuts to get that sculptured look, according to his son, Dr. Phillip Caravella of Westlake.

"Actors and other notables would come from miles around because they wanted my father's unique styling," Caravella said.

The doctor, who as a young man remembers $1 haircuts, pointed out that his father, although a staunch labor union advocate, fought price increases, feeling they would hurt business.

Barber Caravella died in 1969 at the age of 56 after a heart attack.

Successor Ceccoli, a native of Sandusky, began barbering in 1963 in the former Herman Gross shop on Madison avenue. Later, he worked for the Belle Barbershop on Detroit.

After acquiring Detroit-Giel in '69 he visited "The House of Lords," a widely acclaimed barbering emporium in Toronto.

"I was so impressed with the type of work they were doing that I changed my name here from Detroit-Giel to M'Lord's for Hair," said Ceccoli, who has a state registration certificate that precludes anyone else from using his Toronto adaptation.

Numbered among Ceccoli's favorite customers were former Browns linebackers Tom Cousineau and Ed Bettridge. Also a prominent regular of old was the late Rev. Monsignor Charles McBride, one-time pastor of St.Luke's Catholic church in Lakewood.

Before Ceccoli took over his current shop, predecessor Caravella also accommodated Lakewood's McBride, who incidentally wrote copy for the television performances of the late Bishop Fulton Sheen.

On occasion, when Sheen was visiting McBride at St. Luke's, Caravella was summoned to the Lakewood church to cut the hair of the revered TV preacher.

Many of the tools of the trade have changed, Ceccoli noted.

"Originally, we gave shaves, using straight razor and strops. That's now ancient history. Longer hair eliminated the need for shaving necks. Electric clippers replaced hand ones. Neck brushes, or dusters, fell out of grace because of the fear of spreading barbers' itch. Blow dryers were introduced."

"In some cases, hair styles have come full circle," Ceccoli continued. "Those early-day, short-cropped haircuts called 'brush cuts' or 'heinies' are back again, only now they're called 'buzzes'.

"The former flat-top has returned as an island. The 'taper' is here once more but is now referred to as a 'fade'. There has been a resurgence of 'clippers all around,' but today it's called 'high and tight.'"

Ceccoli recalled that, in the past, especially during the Great Depression, the jobless frequently couldn't afford to pay for haircuts, so friends of family members did the cutting, often putting a bowl on the victim's head and trimming around it.

Everyone could tell those end products were homemade because they lacked professional tapering on the sides and back. Thus, they were a continual source of embarrassment for the victimized.

Today, because of some daft, ironic twist, these same once amateur-looking "bowl cuts," albeit administered now by accredited barbers, are the latest rage.

Ceccoli mourns the longer intervals between haircuts. "Men used to come in every two weeks. Now, its six to eight weeks," he lamented.

His sales slogan -- one latched onto years ago -- is; "Get a haircut regularly and you will prosper."

"And your barber will, too," he might well have added.

Regarding baldness, our veteran barber advised that "all the tonic in the world is not going to make any difference."

"It's genetics," he said.

This article by Dan Chabek appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post November 17, 1994. Reprinted with permission.

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