Shear Talent: Salgados Open The Barber Shop

Jorge Salgado had never cut my hair before, and I figured it would end up stiffly puffed-out in that critical transition zone between the sides and top. That’s just what my hair does when cut even the slightest bit too short. And after decades of talk therapy ​— ​and by that I mean medicative barbershop banter occasionally overprescribed with transcendental straight-razor treatments ​— ​I’ve come to accept that. This time, however, I stepped from the chair without the slightest upheaval of relapse. Salgado had “thinned it out along the temples,” he explained. My hair laid down perfectly.

It’s easy to credit Salgado’s skill set with his credentialed Paul Mitchell training and subsequent stints at The Biltmore, Salon U, and downtown’s Wolf’s Head. But it goes much deeper than that. Back in his days at San Marcos High School, Salgado and his older brother, Ito, lined up fellow Royals for cheap cuts. “That was a nice little side hustle,” Jorge remembered.

“I actually started cutting hair in elementary school,” Salgado’s older brother, Ito, said recently. “Our dad bought a pair of clippers and gave them to us. We all cut our own hair.” That included little sister Lucianna Salgado, who now cuts, colors, and styles at Victorian Salon, under the same downtown roof as The Barber Shop.

The space, which opened in June, also offers an upstairs lounge, Americana decor, and beverages on the house. “We’re traditional and classy,” said Jorge. It’s open seven days a week, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., and stays open late during downtown’s 1st Thursday events, when the siblings’ mom and dad typically stop by to lend a hand with snacks and drinks.

The Barber Shop is located at 1233 State Street. Call 335-3573, or visit thebarbershopca.com.