A barber’s chair has swivels with adjusted heights that help the barber to turn the chair horizontally while cutting hair. It has footrests to raise the patron’s foot off the floor, and headrest which can be reclined during washing hair.
The most important furniture in the barbers shop is the chair on which his customer sits; it should make him feel comfortable and relaxed. Earnest Koken invented the first hydraulic barber chairs, which had swivel, a footrest and cushioned headrest. Antique barber chairs are usually made up of hardwood timber, such as oak, Elmwood, rosewood etc. having chrome –plated footrest and iron-plated hand rest on both the sides of the chair, removable head rest , reclining mechanism handle , which reclines 180 degree , with a gas piston assembly. They have cushioned seats of different colors like black, maghony etc. for maximum comfort. Some of the chairs have wheels at the base for easy mobility and some stay stagnant. They are relatively heavier than the modern day barber chairs. To protect these chairs from dust, they should be cleaned with lint free cloth, and high quality wax paste can be used to give it a polished finish.
Now a days barber chairs are available in different colors and are relatively lighter than the antique pieces, these can be easily found in any furniture shop or shopping malls, whereas Antique Barber chairs are very rarely found in antique shops, they are found on internet and exhibitions. |
