It’s impossible to know just how many haircuts that Doug Edgell has given in the 60 years that he is barbering, but it’s a lot.
“Half million—three-quarters of a million,” Edgell guesses.
You can still find Edgell putting the tools of his trade to good use on weekday mornings at the Sportsman’s Barbershop in Powell, where he first set up shop in 1967.
“I don’t know that I’m the oldest barber in the state, but I’m pretty close. I’m 85, so,” he says.
Edgell grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin and after a stint in the Marines, he got into barbering.
It wasn’t haircuts but hunting that brought him to Wyoming.
“I spent quite a bit of time out here and I kind of fell in love with it,” he says.
Hence the name—the Sportsman’s Barbershop. Edgell and his son TJ, who also works as a barber, are both avid outdoorsmen. Talk of hunting dominates many of the conversations in the barbershop.
Surprisingly, styles haven’t really changed that much over the years.
“A taper is now a fade. We called it in the old days a white wall, but now it’s a skin fade. Same stuff, just different names,” Edgell says.
The prices have changed. In the late ’60s, Edgell used to advertise a two-dollar haircut for $1.50 with a coupon.
“You know I would have never dreamt that there would be $25 haircuts. But I never thought there would be $100,000 pickup trucks either,“ he laughs.
Dick Nelson remembers those days. He has been one of Edgell's clients since 1967.
“We’ve got a lot of history together. We have had a lot of fun together over the years. I’m a banker and those relationships are what it is all about. And if you can get a good haircut on top of it then you get two wins,” Nelson says.
The relationships are one of the things that keep Edgell going and what keeps many loyal customers, such as Nelson, coming back.
“There’s cutting hair and the social end of it too. If you can’t deal with the social end of it, you are not going to be successful,” Edgell says.
A recipe for success that has kept this barber in business for nearly 60 years at the same location in Powell.
“It’s been a wonderful life, it really has. Really, I can’t complain at all. If you take care of the barbershop the barbershop will take care of you,” he says.
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