If you get your next beard trim or haircut at Ward’s Barbershop in Centralia, be prepared for an old-fashioned, traditional barber shop experience.
“How I’m different with my shop … at the end of the haircut, you get a hot towel on your neck, and a straight-razor neck shave,” owner Donnie Ward said. “You don’t find a lot of shops that do that anymore. It is old school.”
Ward said many men have never experienced a straight-razor shave, especially a neck shave after a haircut. More commonly, barbers or hair stylists just touch up a man’s hairline with a pair of clippers.
“That’s the barber shop experience you don’t get at any chain salon,” he said. “Nobody gets that.”
Ward set up shop in Centralia in April after moving to the area from Pennsylvania with his wife, who wanted to be closer to family.
“It reminds me of my hometown,” Ward said of Centralia.
Like his hometown of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, Centralia has a small town feel, friendly people and a history of coal, he said.
So far, business has been busier than Ward expected. In his first few months, Ward’s Barbershop has already had a number of positive online reviews from satisfied customers, he said.
Ward, a barber for more than eight years, had his first experience cutting hair while in the military.
“I did six years with the Army and I was the guy who had a pair of clippers,” he said, noting that soldiers still needed to get their hair cut despite not being anywhere near a barber shop. “I was the guy who was cutting all my friends’, all my buddies’ hair.”
After getting out of the Army, he decided to pursue being a professional barber.
Ward focusses on mens’ and boys’ haircuts, shaves and beard trims, and only takes walk-in clients, although he will occasionally take an appointment to fit a client’s schedule.
“I do a lot of beard trims,” he said. “(With a) straight razor … you can put a real distinct line on that beard.”
While many men are used to getting quick haircuts at chain salons, Ward said old-fashioned, traditional barber shops are starting to regain popularity, as have 1950s-inspired men’s haircuts, Ward said. The old fashioned hairstyles caught on on the east coast before they got to Washington, he said.
“I’ve been doing that for four years,” he said. “I think a lot of the new haircuts start in New York and work their way west.”
