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Oxford brimming with barbers

(Left to right) Barbers Tom Creech and Joe Foltz cut customer’s hair in Temple Barbershop, 1 E. High St.
(Left to right) Barbers Tom Creech and Joe Foltz cut customer’s hair in Temple Barbershop, 1 E. High St.

Kyle Hayden, For The Miami Student

(Left to right) Barbers Tom Creech and Joe Foltz cut customer’s hair in Temple Barbershop, 1 E. High St. (Kyle Hayden | Production Photographer)

As students return from fall break, they sport the telltale sign that they have been home: a fresh haircut.

Many students have never gotten a haircut in Oxford. Rather, they struggle against a slowly creeping unkempt haircut, holding out until their next trip home. However, Oxford has no shortage of places for students to let their hair down. There are several locations in Uptown Oxford to get a haircut for under $20.

Among these locations is Varsity Barber Shop, located at 50 East Park Place, across the street from Uptown Park. The owner, Gary Settles, used to cut all customers' hair himself despite an illness that required him to bring an oxygen tank to work. Recently he has been in and out of the shop so John Webster now cuts most of the hair.

Below Skyline Chili, Tom Creech and Joe Foltz staff Temple Barber Shop, located at 1 E. High St.

"The original building that'd been here burnt down and when they constructed this one, we were one of the first tenants," Creech said, "That was some time in '73." Creech has been cutting hair for about 27 years. He said he took the skill on from his father, who used to run the "S&S barbershop," formerly located next to what is now Chipotle at 7 W. High St.

Across Uptown, next to the recently re-purchased Princess Theatre, Keith Fairfax stood tall outside his recently-opened Uptown location of Krispy Kutz, located at 100 W. High St. locking up, preparing to leave for lunch. At the shop, Fairfax supposed students make up "80 percent" of his business, which he refers to as an "urban barbershop."

"College kids keep me going, keep me busy," Fairfax said, "between them and the ROTC guys."

Fairfax said he has been cutting hair for roughly ten years. He recently moved Krispy Kutz Uptown after leaving a space on College Corner Pike, near Wal-Mart, where he operated for two years.

Prices at the locations vary: at Varsity, a haircut will run a shaggy fellow $11. Temple, which advertises that it only takes walk-ins charges $13 for a haircut, $14 with a shave- commonly referred to as a "cut and face." At Krispy Kutz, it is $12 for a regular cut, $15 for a cut and a shave.


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