Three Generations of barbers cutting hair at “Taylor’s Barber Shop”

HUNTSVILLE, Ala (WHNT) — Taylor’s Barbershop has offered haircuts in Huntsville for nearly 20 years, but it’s the story of who’s behind the clippers, that really matters.

“The best thing that ever happened in my life is to be able to work with my father and now my son,” said Ollie Taylor, Jr.

Three generations of Taylors now work at the shop.

“I started cutting hair in 59.”

The story starts with Ollie Taylor senior, or more commonly known as ‘Pop,’ who became a master barber 64 years ago.

“I love the people,” said Taylor Sr. “I like working with the people, and I just enjoy it all the way around.”

His son, Ollie Taylor Jr, wanted to be just like his father:

“And I’m like dad, ‘I want to be a barber,”‘ said Taylor Junior. “It’s something I’ve always had in the back of my mind that I wanted to do.”

Although at first, the job didn’t come easy.

Taylor Junior said his father pushed him to go to school and get a job with benefits, and after getting a scholarship for computer science, he made his way to Gadsen State.

Upon moving in, he and his father stumbled across a barbershop.

“Actually, the barber instructor had a student that didn’t want to be a barber, and he didn’t want a scholarship in barbering,” he said. “He wanted to go into computer science, so they swapped the scholarships right on the spot. My dad left, just like, ‘did this just happen?’ and I was like, ‘yeah, I’m going to be a barber.”

It was like it was meant to be, because the father-son duo have been cutting hair together for 38 years since.

“He has taught me so much, my father,” said Taylor Jr. “When I started cutting hair, he told me, he said, ‘now, son, every customer that comes in come from different places in life,” he said, “you treat them all the same. you do not show any difference or respect a person.”‘

In the past year, the shop welcomed a third generation, Luke Taylor.

“I was coming in here, I mean, as early as five years old,” said Luke Taylor. “Then when I was younger teen, I would come in and clean the shop. My dad started teaching me basics even back then. so I had a basic knowledge of it before I came over here, but actually in a professional setting, less than a year.”

For the Taylors, the experience means more than just business.

“Everybody’s like family,” said Taylor Jr. “I mean, they sit down in the chair and you laugh, you know, find out their story. They share their struggles, they share their happiness, they share their family, and, they become like your family.”

While they are touching up their customers, they’re impacting each other as well.

“I don’t even have the words to describe just how good of an experience it is to be with not only my dad, but my grandfather, who is nearing the end of his career,” said Luke. You know, this is probably going to be the last year he’s cutting hair over here. so I’m just so thankful for all the memories.”

“I cannot even find the words of how thankful I am for that.”

Six decades in, the shop’s four walls can hardly contain the laughs, the haircuts, and the history.

“It’s just been a good life. the lord’s been good to me,” said Ollie Taylor Senior.

Taylor’s Barbershop is located at 11309 South Memorial Pkwy Huntsville, Alabama 35803, and you can book an appointment on their website .

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