There was a time when barber textbooks instructed the young barber how to use technology to his advantage in building his career. Chapters on scalp manipulations and facials took up large portions of barbering textbooks. The information is useful, the technology now obsolete, and the diction suggestive and hilarious. Headings and passages such as: Principle of Vibrator Use, Using Twin Vibrators, "A single vibrator is a force if not properly manipulated," "The vibrator be handled with slow, rotary or stroking movements, instead of hurried zig-zag movements over the face, thereby insuring the effectiveness of the vibrations," are common in both the Standardized Barbers' Manual and Standardized Textbook of Barbering. Thanks to the passage of time, the sexual revolution, and advances in technology, classic barber textbooks not only teach us something...they make us laugh too.
