Men have "barbers" and go to "barber shops", though more recently they go to "hair stylists".

Women can go to "beauty shops", "beauty salons", "hair salons", "beauty parlors", "beauty spas" and have their hair done by "beauticians", "hair stylists", "hair consultants", etc., etc.!

What is (are) the correct term(s) these days? I definitely think "beautician" is outmoded, or is it?

Let's not forget "Cosmetologists". The girls around here go to "Cosmetology" School to learn their trade. We have a school nearby where they teach the girls (and guys) everything from hair cuts, to manicures, pedicures, and electrolysis. For my daughter's 13th birthday, I let her spend the day there. They pampered her from the top of her head to the tips of her toes and she loved it!

Mama still goes to the hairdresser.

Where do men go in the Netherlands? A barber?

I don't know. (Yes, I do, really, but I don't get my hair cut.) It's to "de kapper".

Hair? Done? What's hair? My days of having it are done - is that what you mean?

I go to Lenny the barber to get the fringe trimmed. I've often told Lenny that he should change his name to Leonardo Di Cliprio, wear tight chartreuse pants and a mauve satin blouse, and start charging eighty bucks per "do" instead of the eight bucks he commands as just plain Lenny. He won't do it, however, since he values his redneck drinking buddies too much.

Now, shall we discuss the etymology of barber?

Isn't a cosmetologist a Russian astronaut?

OED says, somewhat unsurprisingly, that it comes from F. barbier (= It. barbiere), both from the Italian barba meaning beard.

It goes on to add a historical note: A man, or more rarely a woman, whose business it is to shave or trim the beards, and cut and dress the hair, of customers. (Now largely replaced by hairdresser.)
Formerly the barber was also a regular practitioner in surgery and dentistry. The Company of Barber-surgeons was incorporated by Edward IV. in 1461; under Henry VIII. the title was altered to 'Company of Barbers and Surgeons,' [sic] and barbers were restricted to the practice of dentistry; in 1745 they were divided into two distinct corporations.

The sic is because of the OED's typographical error in transposing the comma and the single quote mark

OED says, somewhat unsurprisingly, that it comes from F. barbier (= It. barbiere),
both from the Italian barba meaning beard.

And what about its resembling a spear point, a barb?

Barbaric!

[Latin barbaricus, from Greek barbarikos, from barbaros, foreign.]

from barbaros, foreign.
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OK, Jerry, now make the connection to Berbers!

Oh to hear again the Berber barber babble !!

(a snatch of a song sung by a returned Foreign Legionaire)

quote:

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Originally posted by the_bear:
"the title was altered to 'Company of Barbers and Surgeons,' [sic] and ..." The sic is because of the OED's typographical error in transposing the comma and the single quote mark

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The philistines! I fear you and I are fighting a losing battle, my ursine friend!