JANIE GOULD
Retired St. Lucie County sheriff’s deputy Scott D. Young packs a blow dryer these days, as the owner of a new but distinctly traditional type of barber shop in the Publix shopping center that sprouted just north of Vero Beach, at 53rd Street and U.S. 1.
The Hair Shop for Men resembles a Norman Rockwell painting – you remember the one of the tow-headed boy getting his first haircut — updated to the 21st century. Roomy leather chairs in the waiting area, along with a TV and magazines, give it the look of a comfortable den or man’s cave.
“I wanted to open an upscale, old-fashioned style barber shop where a gentleman can get a gentleman’s haircut and then it’s finished like your grandfather got, where it’s cleaned up with hot lather around your ears, cleaned up with a straight razor and finished off width hand massages,” Young said. “Additionally, we wanted to offer hot towels, straight razor shaves and facial massages. Eventually we’re going to have gentlemen’s pedicures and manicures here.”
A native of Paterson, N.J., whose father was a law enforcement officer and mother a nurse, Young moved to Florida in the 1980s and went to work for the sheriff’s office. He says he was fortunate to have had several different assignments, from drug investigations to courthouse security, background checks and fraud investigations.
“Getting some people their money back, when I was a fraud investigator, that was rewarding,” he said.
He also had a stint as a school resource officer.
“Generally, children don’t like to talk to adults, particularly those who are law enforcement officers,” he said. “People who know me know I am a bit of an unconventional law enforcement officer. I have tattoos, visible tattoos. I grew up in a rough neighborhood in Paterson. I can relate to juveniles, young adults.”
But, after 25 years as a deputy, “I was through with the job,” he says. “The sheriff’s office hasn’t had raises for going on seven years now. That’s ludicrous! I started looking for a higher paying job in the private sector, something with fraud investigations, and I got some offers. It was just that every place was colder than the one before. The first was Boston. It’s a great town, but freezing!”
He already had worked a second job as a barber in Port St. Lucie to supplement his salary with the sheriff’s office. Back in 2000, he had decided to go to beauty school, He enrolled at the Port St. Lucie Beauty Academy.
“They didn’t offer barbering at that time, so I had to take cosmetology,” he said.
He went to school from 6 until 10 p.m. for 16 months and then worked the midnight shift as a uniformed patrol officer. One night, a burglar alarm sounded at a pawn shop near the beauty academy. When deputies arrived, they saw Young’s car in the parking lot.
“The lesson we were learning that night was about nails,” he said. “I was filing a young lady’s nails when they (deputies) came in. Oh, the stuff those guys teased me about! It couldn’t have gotten any worse. But it was funny, because years later, during the hurricanes, I set up a makeshift barber shop at the sheriff’s headquarters and was cutting everybody’s hair, because we didn’t have power for 20 days.”
And actually, he says cosmetology school was much longer, with 1,200 hours of required instruction, and more difficult than the 400-hours of training he got at the police academy. Cosmetology included studies of diseases of the hair, scalp and nails, among other topics.
“I thought it was going to be a cake walk,” he said. “It was much more than how to hold a pair of scissors.”
So when Young was retiring from the sheriff’s office he decided to open a barber shop of his own. He wanted it to be in a relatively affluent area. When he first looked at the Indian River County site, “it was just a pile of dirt. There was nothing there.”
However, when he learned about the 53rd Street extension and new developments that were coming, and that a Publix store would anchor the shopping center, he decided the location was right for him. Sometimes folks drop off their elderly husband or father at the shop while they do their grocery shopping.
“I’m very grateful to be where I’m at,” Young said.
“There are a lot of unisex salons, a lot of places that are only for women. I wanted a place where a guy could be a guy, where he could sit down and have a cold beer, get a straight-razor shave, read a gentlemen‘s magazine. We’ve had a toddler in here, and some young guys, but the majority are in their 50s or up. We straight-razor shaved a gentlemen the other day who is 91.”
One sign in the window reads “Husband Day Care.” The only thing missing from the exterior is an old-fashioned red, white and blue barber pole, but Young is working on that.
Indian River Guardian 