Text Size: A
A
A
A
Jack Sexton Jr. shows his son, Harley, what a haircut should look like at his Signal Mountain barbershop, Action Jack’s. Photo by Jennifer Bardoner
Walking into Action Jack’s on Taft Highway brings the typical sounds of a barbershop — a pleasant greeting, the buzzing of shears and comfortable banter. But one sound that isn’t heard is the ringing of a telephone.
“We’ve never had one and really haven’t ever needed one,” said Jack Sexton Jr., who is now running the shop after his father’s retirement several months ago. “Once you get set in a place it’s hard to change.”
This is true of many aspects of the business, from its old-fashioned cash register to the constant staff and clients to the location right next to the former Lynn’s Market which his mother Lynn opened in 1971.
It’s also true of the nature of the business itself. His father, Jack Sr., opened the barbershop there in 1982 after having owned one downtown for approximately 15 years. Jack Jr. will celebrate his 10th anniversary in the family business this December.
“If he’s Action Jack, I guess I’m Double Action Jack,” said the younger Sexton. “I’ve always been in and around a barbershop — like my son here when he’s out of school and doesn’t want to stay with his mom.”
Although his window at 2106 Taft Highway advertises “good cheap haircuts, some dental work and scooter repair,” Jack Sexton Jr. said the dental work is just a bit of humor.
“We’ve actually had people come in here wanting dental work,” he said.
The repair work, however, is “negotiable.”
“We could probably fix a motorcycle or two,” he said.
But the good, cheap haircuts are a guarantee, he added, and walk-ins are always welcome Tuesday through Saturday.
Although it’s even more of a family business for young Harley, with his mother owning her own beauty shop in Crossville where the family now lives, he said he’s still not sure yet what he wants to do when he grows up.
But he does know to stay away from his father’s 5-cent haircut.
“It’s been in the family business, so you do what you’ve got to do,” Jack Jr. said of the now more than one-hour drive each way he makes five days a week.
Before joining the family business, he said he did many other lines of work before coming back to the “only barbershop up here” on the mountain where he grew up.
“I’ve done everything else,” he said. “I should’ve listened to my daddy to start with. He wanted me to become a barber when I got out of school.”
But he added that those jobs, from landscaping to auto body work, have all helped him in his chosen career, which is “not like a job” but more like socialization.
“I figured if I could prune shrubs and make them round, I could work on somebody’s head too,” he said. “I can look at a haircut and see if it’s smooth. You’ve got to look at a bumper to see if you left a hole in it with Bondo. You’ve got to have that eye, I guess.”
He said he is now seeing his second generation of mostly male clients, cutting the hair of children of clients who got their first haircut in his chair. The atmosphere and good, cheap haircuts are what keeps them coming back, according to him.
His clients have even contributed personal artifacts to the décor of the recently expanded shop, which more than doubled its size.
“You don’t find too many old-fashioned barbershops,” he said. “They’re all salons and beauty shops and razor cuts. You can still get a good flattop (here).”
del.icio.us
digg
Furl
Spurl
YahooMyWeb
co.mments
Ma.gnolia
De.lirio.us
blogmarks
BlinkList
NewsVine
scuttle
Fark
Shadows
Comments
Post a comment
Commenting requires registration.