What used to be called Charlie's OK Barber Shop is now called OK Barber Shop, since Charlie Campbell semi-retired and sold the business. I was able to locate an online article about Charlie and this business from the
Barber Campbell easing toward retirement
Fourty-six years of clipping hair, swapping stories
During his 46 years of clipping hair at OK Barber Shop in Madras, Charlie Campbell has gotten to know generations of locals, been on the front end of the town grapevine, and seen trends come and go.
In March, Campbell, 65, sold his business to employee Nick Bowlby, but isn’t ready to retire yet, and now works part time three days a week.
Raised in Fossil, where his dad worked as a timber feller for 32 years, Campbell got the idea to train as a barber after a cousin went to barber school. “I might be interested in that,” he thought to himself after graduating from high school.
His dad had advised him not to go into the lumber industry, because it was dwindling. “I always liked working with my hands and knew I needed some kind of trade school, because I was tired of studying and didn’t want to go to college,” he said.
On Oct. 1, 1968, he enrolled in Eugene Barber College, which his dad viewed as an extension of his occupation saying, “I cut trees -- you cut hair.”
While Campbell liked barber school, he wasn’t thrilled about its location. “I was raised in a small town, and going to Eugene was a nightmare because of the traffic and trying to find my way around,” he said.
He was also dubious at first, because students had to do a full month of classroom study work before they could start working with customers. Finally, the students got to practice on people who came to the school for discounted haircuts, and by giving free haircuts at nursing homes.
He graduated in June, but was told he had to serve an apprenticeship under a licensed barber for 15 months before he could take the journeyman’s test and go out on his own.
Pete Peterson, the barber school owner, tipped him off that there was a position open in Springfield, but Campbell responded, “No, I’m going back to Eastern or Central Oregon. I can’t take all this rain.”
His hometown was too small to support a barber, so he checked for job openings in Pendleton, Hermiston and Umatilla. A man in Pendleton had a list of barber shops needing help, and asked Campbell, “Do you know where Madras is? There’s a place there called OK Barber Shop and they’re looking for a barber.”
In late June 1969, 20-year-old Campbell arrived in Madras and headed to the OK Barber Shop, where Russ Schulz and Les Bryan were the barbers, and told them he was looking for a job.
After being assured he had been to barber school, Schulz asked him, “Have you got your barber tools with you?” and was told no. “How do you expect to work without tools?” Schulz asked, telling him, “Come back July 1, and we’ll set you up.”
Three months later, Schulz left to work at Erickson’s Market and sold the business to Bryan. “I worked for him until 1973, when I bought Les out. Then I moved the barber shop from its old location by Thomas Sales, across the street to where it is now,” Campbell said.
Madras had three barber shops in those days; one by the Willow Creek bridge on the north end of town, City Barber Shop, owned by Ernie Walston, and Charlie’s OK Barber Shop.
“I did a lot of shaves with a straight razor and a hot towel, but anymore that’s gone by the wayside because of electric shaver and safety razors,” he said.
“I always thought that shaving was pretty cool. At school, I’d do 10 shaves a day, where at OK Barber it was one or two a week. Now, it can cost $25 for a face shave, whereas I did it for $2,” he laughed.
Once in a while, a customer would ask for a “tonic,” which was a treatment with a scalp-stimulating tonic like Old Sage Rub, which Campbell also enjoyed doing.
“But people got busier, and just wanted a haircut and to get going. That’s the main reason we don’t make appointments,” he said.
“Of course, there’s a lot of talking that goes on, too,” he said of the banter between the barbers and their customers.
On any given day, he noted, “I could pretty much tell you who’d passed away or been in a car wreck. There could be 10 guys in the shop and only two getting haircuts – the others were there to hear the news.”
From old-timers, he said, “I’ve heard so many stories about Madras back in the days. It was a wild little town when the railroads were coming in.”
The one-on-one relationship with the customers was something Campbell enjoyed, and he observed, “That’s one reason barber shops have stayed around. People like to sit and talk to you.”
But he’s noticed younger customers who come in are glued to their cell phones and there’s no conversation. “It’s too bad; the younger kids are missing out,” he said.
In the 1970s, business was tough for barber shops because of the longer hair styles. During the downturn, Campbell worked by himself from 1974-79, then hired a second barber as short hair began making a comeback.
“In 1983, things started opening up and getting busier, and I bought the building in 1990,” he said, adding the shop now has four barbers' chairs.
During those years, he’s seen the downtown area change. “I’ve seen Madras in the ‘70s when there was not an empty storefront. Now, with the old Hatfield’s building, and others empty, it’s taken away from the downtown area,” he said, adding, “It’s too bad (the city) can’t get things to where it doesn’t take so much money to start a business downtown.”
Hair styles have changed through the years. He started out doing flat tops and crew cuts, then in the ‘70s learned to cut longer hair to survive. “Now, a kid comes in and whips up a picture on his cell phone and says, `I want it to look like this.’ We do everything from skin fades to flat tops to regular cuts – it’s a smorgasbord,” he said.
Leg pain from working on his feet all day was one of the reasons Campbell wanted to work part time. “But there’s so much stuff to do at home, I’m still on my feet,” he joked.
He’s now at the shop Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, and said pay days and the weekend are the busiest. OK Barber was bustling last Friday, with all four chairs full of chattering customers and a steady stream of others walking in.
“Our business is like a roller coaster. One day you’re stomped, and the next you wonder where they all went,” Campbell observed.
Campbell said his full retirement depends on when his wife Carol decides to retire from working as a teaching assistant. He’s still enjoying himself at the shop, but said it’s nice to have time for other things, too.
He and Carol enjoy taking Sunday excursions in his 1941 Chevy, and he also has a 1956 Chevy pickup. He plays some golf, likes to hunt and fish, and is planning a three-day float trip on the John Day River to fish with his two older brothers.
Reflecting on his barbering career, Campbell said, “It’s the people that made me want to stay in this town. They’ve been really good to me. I have a lot of good friends and customers and it makes me feel good that for 46 years I’ve pleased them.” ~ Article posted 13 May 2015