Pro tip: I read a barber history book from the 1950s and it said a barber's pole originally meant you could get a bloodletting done there.

Found this old book at a garage sale in Cleveland and that fact blew my mind, so has anyone else come across a weird piece of barber history that stuck with you?

2 comments

2 Comments

henderson.hugo2d ago

Wait, so we're supposed to believe every barber with a pole was doing surgery? That feels like one of those facts that gets stretched. Sure, maybe some barbers did bloodletting way back when, but by the 1950s that book was written, it was just a symbol, right? Like how a pharmacy might have a mortar and pestle sign but they aren't grinding herbs by hand. It's just history, not a current menu.

shane_reed1d ago

Wonder if the red stripe originally meant bloody bandages.