photo by: Elvyn Jones

David Laskowski leans against one of the three more than 100-year-old barber chairs that grace his Ski's 1890s Barbershop in Baldwin City. He and his wife, Celia, also run an antique store in he three rooms behind the barbership he opened in March at 813 Eighth Street in Baldwin City.

There are very few concessions to the 20th century, much less the 21st, in the Baldwin City barbershop David Laskowski opened two months ago.

“The TV, scissors and clippers are new but everything else is 100 years old,” Laskowski said as he leaned against one of three restored barber chairs that grace his business. “These old chairs are usually found only in someone’s man cave, but I thought I’d put them to work.”

The Ski’s 1890’s Barbershop name Laskowski gave to the business he opened in March at 813 Eighth St. in Baldwin City reveals the age of the shop’s decor. The furnishings include the three barber chairs manufactured from 103 to 142 years ago, two backbars with their large mirrors that also date from the late 19th century, a brass cash register of the style used in turn-of-the-century barbershops and a wall clock with a reverse dial that allows customers to check the time in the mirror while getting a haircut or shave. The seating available for waiting customers and a product display case also appear to have been pulled from an antique store, such as the Maple Leaf Antiques Laskowski and his wife, Celia, opened in the three backrooms behind the barbershop. A sign announcing the presence of the antique store will soon be mounted on the front of the barbershop, he said.

The barbershop’s furnishings and the antique shop resulted from his and his wife’s more than 30-year interest in collecting antiques, Laskowski said. His wife, who still works as an occupational therapist, mainly collects Victorian furniture, while he sought out the barbershop paraphernalia and equipment that fills his shop.

“It was always my intention to open a shop when I retired with the equipment I collected,” Laskowski said. “I’m not the kind of person to do nothing, and I thought this would be a good way to stay busy. I intend to work until I’m in my 90s.”

The gems of his collection are the shop’s three barber chairs. The oldest of the chairs is a 1877 Koken, Laskowski said. Unlike the other two chairs, it is not equipped with hydraulics that allow the barber to adjust the seat height to fit customers.

“It’s a shaver,” he said. “It reclines for shaving.”

The other two chairs are an 1892 August Kern of gleaming brass and new supple reddish-brown leather upholstery, and a 1916 Koken of black leather, shiny nickel and white porcelain.

“I had to get the chairs reupholstered and the one chair re-nickeled,” he said. “We took the hydraulics out of the two chairs and cleaned them up, changed the hydraulic oil and greased them. They work perfectly. These old chairs a virtually indestructible. They’ll be around for another 100 years.”

His shop is only two months old, but Laskowski is not new to barbering. He started cutting hair in 1980 and worked his way through the University of Kansas nursing school from 1981 to 1984 while barbering in Kansas City, Mo. He continued to barber in his home and in various shops on weekends or off hours while working first as an operating room nurse at Olathe Medical Center and then at an Olathe pain clinic, he said.

He cuts hair for men and women, Laskowski said. But unlike many hair salons, the walk-in policy at his barbershop harkens back to less schedule driven days.

“No appointments,” he said. “I don’t believe anyone getting a haircut wants to call ahead to make an appointment.”