Staff Writer
HOULTON — Fifty years ago, Wayne Dwyer wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do.
He tried Ricker College and even worked in the logging industry, but couldn’t quite find his niche.
“Dad said he’d send me to Ricker College. I went about a half a year and quit,” says Dwyer. “And [working in the woods] was awful. I only weighed about 125 pounds.”
Pioneer Times Photo/Sarah Berthiaume
50 YEARS IN BUSINESS — Wayne Dwyer, owner of Dwyer’s Barber Shop on Broadway, marked 50 years in the barbering business this year.
That spring, his father made another suggestion.
“One night he said, ‘Would you like to go to barber school?’,” recalls Dwyer. “At that point, I’d have done just about anything.”
At Hanson Barber School in Lewiston, Dwyer roomed with a good friend Sherrill Colford and learned a trade that he’s practiced in Houlton for 50 years this year.
“Percy Hanson [who operated the school] said I’d never make a barber,” Dwyer says, smiling. “But I did.”
After graduation in 1957, Colford started working in Danforth and Dwyer started in a shop in Houlton’s Union Square area.
“I started down at Tough End with Arthur Kitchen,” he said. “We worked together about a year.”
After that first year, he moved to another location in Union Square, a shop “under the steps” near where the taxi stand used to be. He worked there until he moved to his current Broadway shop in 1988.
Looking back on his 50 years in the business, Dwyer seems happy to have reached that milestone.
“It seems crazy when you even talk about it,” he said. “When I started, haircuts were 90 cents and a shave was 50 cents.”
But that’s not all that’s different.
“It’s changed wicked. Barbers are a losing breed,” he added. “When I started, there were 17 barbers in town. Now, it’s mostly beauticians.”
The Linneus man admits it: running his own business hasn’t always been easy.
“Sometimes it’s a rocky road. Sometimes it smooths out a bit,” he said. “I did like it [when I started], and I still like it.”
A big part of the reason Dwyer likes his job so much: his customers.
“I would like to thank all of my customers, both past and present,” he said. “I have some super ones. They had to be super to put with up me.”
The 71-year-old, also a father of eight, grandfather of 26 and great-grandfather of five, said he’s hoping to add at least five more years to his 50-year record. But in the meantime, he’ll keep doing what he knows best.
“To hang in there, you have to work hard,” he said. “I guess if your health is good and you can get in here every morning, you ought to be pretty well satisfied.”
Dwyer’s Barber Shop is open Monday through Wednesday from 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Friday from 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m.
