Scratchy

Photo by Gayneté Edwards

Scratchy and his partner Theodosha have been keeping heads looking fresh in Bermuda for generations, including both of my grandfathers, my dad, my brother and me. In fact, their shop is located right across the street from the house that my father grew up in and is where my grandmother still lives today. There is even a picture of my brother and mother up in the shop from when he wrote a letter that earned my mom the title of, "Mother of the Year". When we went there, we had make sure that we had a large block of time sectioned off because it was always busy and they were in no rush. Like most historically black barber shops, I remember the heated discussions that occurred, ranging from politics to sports, to the state of the island as customers waited for their turn in the hot seat. As kids, my brother and I could care less about any of that. We were more interested in the impressive stack of comics and magazines laid out for the customers not interested in verbal jousting. Life was so much simpler then. I now live in Canada and have a new barber who also happens to be one of my closest friends. Like a lot of black men, I don't trust many people with my hair so it was great to find out that I had a friend with this talent. Although I'm happy with my new barber I was excited to get this  recent photo of Scratchy in the shop. It was nice to take a walk down memory lane and remember where I came from.