THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 19, 1994 TAG: 9406180074
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JODY R. SNIDER
DATELINE: 940619 LENGTH: SMITHFIELD
Today there is no such thing as a basic haircut, or a basic price.
{REST} There's only style, and everyone's is different, said Al Wilson, 48, who operates Alvin's Barber Shop with his son Alvin ``Webb'' Wilson, 24.
The most expensive cut Webb Wilson's done started with a swirl at the crown of the customer's head and ended at his neck. It looked like a beehive from a distance, and it cost $35.
Like his father, the younger Wilson began barbering when he was about 10 years old, learning by taking a ``little from the top'' on his father's head.
He was always in the shop when he was growing up. In fact, the younger Wilson used to run a shoeshine business there.
``When I turned 16, my father asked me how I felt about going to barber school,'' Webb Wilson recalled. ``I said it would be fine. He said that was good, because he had already talked to some people about getting me in.
``Now I wouldn't trade barbering for the world,'' he said. ``I like meeting people and being an artist. You never know what to expect when someone steps in a chair.''
The elder Wilson began by cutting his grandfather's hair.
``He'd say, `Boy, come here and cut my hair,' '' Al Wilson recalled, laughing. ``I'd tell him I didn't know how to cut hair, and he'd say, `That's all right, just cut it all off.' ''
So he would. He shaved his grandfather's head so often that he began experimenting by cutting different hairstyles before shaving his head. ``You couldn't make any mistakes because the end result was always a clean head,'' he said.
In the early days, the elder Wilson said, parents told him how to cut their child's hair.
Often today, children make their own decision.
``That's good because it gives a child a strong self-image,'' said Al Wilson, who doubles as assistant superintendent of schools in Surry County.
Cutting hair also has paid for college for both the Wilsons.
In 1968, it financed the elder Wilson's premed degree from Virginia Union University.
He also has two master's degrees in education.
Likewise, the youngest Wilson works weekends while attending Norfolk State University, where he is pursuing a degree in music education.
Al Wilson said the one piece of advice he has given his son is this: ``In whatever you do, be expected to do your best, because people expect the best.''
Webb Wilson said his father has also taught him: ``It's not what you have, but what you do after you have it - how you treat people - that counts.''
{KEYWORDS} FATHER'S DAY
by CNB