Shawnee barber stays ahead of times

By April Wilkerson

Published: July 11, 2008

SHAWNEE (AP) - Across Oklahoma today, men wear hairstyles that range from classic to avant-garde. But none of their individuality would be possible without a former Shawnee resident called the "father of men's hairstyling in Oklahoma."

Gene Beavers grew up in his father's barbershop on South Broadway in Shawnee, shining shoes and vowing to never become a barber himself.

"But somehow or another it was a calling," he said. "My dad taught me if something is worth doing, it is worth doing right. And it has been a wonderful life."

Beavers is considered the father of men's hairstyling because, before his efforts, men's hair had no flair. But Beavers changed everything.

In 1957, he got his hairstyling license, and by the early '60s, things were changing rapidly across the nation. Beavers was tuned in. He learned about something called the flattop, and soon he couldn't do the cuts fast enough, including a 28-flattop spree one Saturday.

"It was very exciting, and it was scary," he said. "I didn't know whether it would make people mad. It was new.

"It started catching on, and the old barbershop atmosphere changed. People started making appointments. We started taking appointments before the doctors did in this town."

After flattops, the next trend took an opposite path, thanks to the Beatles. Long hair suddenly was fashionable, much to the horror of an older generation, Beavers said. But he was on top of the movement and began talking to his customers about the virtues of a longer style.

As his reputation grew, so did his customer base, as people began coming to Shawnee from Oklahoma City, Norman, Seminole, Wewoka, even Dallas. Legislators at the state Capitol came to Shawnee for a cut, and Beavers styled the hair of other notables like David Boren and Clem McSpadden.

Beavers also connected with a man named Edmond "Pop" Roffler, who was bringing European hairstyling methods to America. Beavers was first fascinated by Roffler's razor technique, then began incorporating other styling methods, tools and products not seen in America before.

One connection in the hairstyling world kept leading to another. Beavers created a hairstyle on a local model, then asked longtime local photographer Houstin Payne to take photos. The style and pictures ended up on the cover of a national trade magazine.

Beavers also found himself on a United States hairstyling team with another local hairstylist, Bob Trousdale, and soon they were competing in Europe. By the time it was over, they had traveled to 21 foreign countries for competitions.

"It was phenomenal, really. We were so fortunate to be able to pioneer something like this in the hair industry," Beavers said.

Beavers also was responsible for the hairstyle that accompanied singer Conway Twitty from rock singer to country music star. Before the transition, Twitty was wearing a version of the Bill Haley style, called "flattop with fenders" — flat on top, long on the sides. Beavers changed that significantly.

"Conway wanted to change to country, so he figured he'd get a country barber. He heard about me through other musicians," Beavers said. "The cut kind of shocked him, but I had studied his face and knew what would look good. But he just loved it. And he wore it until the day he died. He was such a good man."

Beavers' impact on men's hairstyling only kept growing. Besides the shop he opened next to the Hornbeck Theatre in 1965, he began teaching hairstyling. His sessions began locally and expanded nationwide, eventually to 33 states. He estimates he taught 600 barbers. In addition, from 1976 to 1989, he owned a barber college in Del City.

"I've always thought that the final lesson in learning anything is teaching," Beavers said. To better teach others how to use hairstyling tools, Beavers re-educated himself. He is right-handed, but he taught himself how to use all the tools left-handed.

"I just used all these tools without thinking, but learning to use them left-handed made me a better teacher," he said.

Jerry McCullar, who learned his own hairstyling trade from Beavers, said "the father of men's hairstyling" earned every bit of his title, including a plaque with those words given to him by fellow barbers.

"He was always the leader, wanting to do something better," said McCullar, who still cuts hair at the downtown Sculptur Kut. "Gene was more than a hairstylist. He's an artist."

Besides pioneering hairstyles, Beavers gained the double reward of seeing a hairstyle change someone's self-esteem. He said he especially remembers one man employed at Tinker Air Force Base who got a new hairstyle and soon became a supervisor.

"I'm not saying it all had to do with the hairstyle, but it helped. He had the confidence," Beavers said. "It was very rewarding for me to see someone become a different person. You get to see someone happy because they got a great haircut and couldn't take their eyes off themselves. You get a great feeling in this business."

Hairstylists and barbers also were part psychologists, Beavers said. People sometimes came to their appointments tensed and worried about something, but by the time they were in the shampoo bowl and the cut was under way, their troubles came spilling out and the anxiety dropped, he said.

Beavers still cuts hair a few days a week in Oklahoma City, and he makes time for a new passion: watercolor painting. But he never takes his eyes off the industry he helped launch.

"I like what I see now — the individuality. The young people are not afraid to do new things, not afraid to get out of the box.

"I wish I were a younger man. I'd like to be in on the next revelation in hairstyling, whatever it is. I know it will be wonderful."

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