May 1, 2023 – Theme Week Day 1

There’s been a lot of talk lately about AI and all the jobs it could potentially replace. So this week, I thought we’d do a theme week on Odd Jobs that Don’t Exist Anymore! 
First up, the barber surgeon. This is a job that was exactly what it sounds like – a person who could cut your hair but also cut you open. They were actually one of the most common medical practitioners in the Middle Ages in Europe. They not only cared for soldiers during wartime, but civilians as well. At the time, physicians rarely performed surgery. For the most part, they considered themselves to be above it, and so they would consult or observe surgical patients but were not interested in getting their hands dirty to actually do the procedures. Enter barbers, who already possessed the tools (razors) necessary and a steady hand. Barber surgeons would do everything from bloodletting with leeches to cupping therapy, pulling teeth, and even amputations.  It wasn’t until 1795 that England’s professional organization for barbers and surgeons split into two separate groups.  Today, there are few traces of barbers’ connection to the surgical side of the medical profession. One is the red and white barber’s pole. It goes back to the barber surgeons practice of bloodletting to treat illness. The equipment required included a staff or pole for the patient to grab onto, a bowl to catch the blood and hold the leeches, and strips of linen bandages. For easy access, the bandages were usually tied to the pole with the bowl on top. Often, the equipment would be placed outside to dry the washed bandages and act as an advertisement for their services. Eventually, bloodletting fell out of use and barbers went back to focusing on just hair. But, to keep tradition alive they decided to advertise with an easily recognizable symbol. Barbers started putting wooden poles, painted with red and white stripes, outside their shops, to look like the bloodletting pole of the barber surgeon. Learn more here.