An Animated Ad Pillar In Red And Blue: The Barber’s Pole

21 Mar 2008 Category: Arts & Crafts, Features, Japan, Worldwide

These flickering signs always stand out when you hurry pass them on the street: a barber pole, of course! But if you stop for a moment and stare at the red, blue, and white spirals, spinning around and around, they start playing tricks to your eyes and you feel hypnotically drawn into them… Just when did barbers start using these signs, and what do they mean? PingMag finds that out for you today.

Written by Ryoko
Translated by Kevin Mcgue

So, we visit the Japanese Hairdressing Museum in Tokyo, which is run by the Hairdressing and Hygiene Association of Japan. The museum is home to many historical barber’s tools, scissors, and chairs:

Bloodletting History

The history of barber poles dates back to the 7th or 8th century in Europe. Today we think of barbers and doctors as being in completely separate professions, but in medieval Europe, hair cutting and treatment of injuries were done by barber surgeons, who employed some crude medical techniques that would have many of us fleeing in terror today…

In the Middle Ages, barber surgeons frequently performed bloodlettings on patients, believing that draining excess blood from a sick person would help them recover. This seemingly shocking treatment was recommended by physicians, but usually carried out by barber surgeons: The patient would squeeze a pole to make the veins in their arm dilate. The barber surgeon would slit the patient’s wrist, and blood would flow down the pole and to be collected in a dish. It is believed that in order make the blood not so noticeable, the poles were painted red. Another theory is that white and blood-stained bandages would be put on the pole and hung outside the shop to dry, and get twisted around the pole by the wind, creating a spiral pattern.
Although bloodletting treatments ended in the 19th century, barber poles remain as a symbol of this gruesome past.

Business Separation

By the way, both barber surgeons and surgeons used the poles to mark their places of business, making them indistinguishable. In 1745, however, the surgeons formerly split from the barbers, after which laws required that surgeons used red and white poles, and barbers used blue and white ones. There are lots of theories on what the blue colour represents, including that the colour combination was based on the French flag or the American stars and stripes. Another theory is that they represent blue veins.

Antique Barber Poles

Barber poles in very antique styles can be found around Japan, but actually they first arrived here when the country opened up to the West during the Meiji period, after the mechanism and design of barber poles had already been fully developed.

One of the unique features of older barber poles are glass globes at the top. We found out that these also have a symbolic meaning: It seems that barbers in France used leeches for bloodletting, and the glass globe at the top of the pole was used to store leeches when then were not attached to a patient. Argh!

Modern Barber Poles

Modern barber poles are made with the the same basic design that has continued from the Middle Ages. By now, they can be seen in a surprising array of models, including free standing signs, ones that attach to walls, ones that glow from within, or fully electronic models even with LED:

A bit more of red and blue…

But it’s not all about poles: A cute character can be found in the windows of barbershops that are recognised by the Hairdressing and Hygiene Association of Japan. Actually, a contest was held to come up with designs for the mark, and manga artist Leiji Matsumoto and art director Atsumi Asaba had to judge all 16,250! A second contest was held to choose a name for the mascot, with the name “Choki-chan” winning out. Kawaii!

Despite sharing all the same basic design, each barber pole is slightly different, often related to the history of its shop it stands in front of. Pay a little more attention next time you stroll down the street! You may discover something you didn’t know about…

90 Comments

1. But thats amazing. Great post.

   Posted by: Laimikis on March 21st, 2008 at 8:56 pm

2. Still like the old vintage ones the best…reminds me of childhood days. :]

   Posted by: blauereiter on March 21st, 2008 at 9:23 pm

3. Plus I love Orochimaru dose any one know him from Naruto?????? ^^

   Posted by: Mona on March 22nd, 2008 at 1:42 am

4. More research please. Barber poles were originally only red and white. The colors symbolized bandages and blood. Barbers were forced into service in lieu of trained surgeons in wartime, hence the need for a signifying mark on battlefields.

   Posted by: anon on March 22nd, 2008 at 3:27 am

5. I have been asking this question about the spinning barber pole for a long long time. This post has totally answer my question~

   We still have these poles in Singapore. But usually adapted by only the neighbourhood’s barber shop. For those modern salons, they totally drop this!

   Posted by: sleepy on March 22nd, 2008 at 8:08 am

6. Awesome explanation.
   I only found out about this bloody past a few weeks ago so was happy to see you guys write about it!
   Thanks - cool pics!

   Posted by: TOKYOMADE on March 22nd, 2008 at 11:20 am

7. [...] Une petite photo spécialement pour mon frère : le salon de coiffure du quartier, à Asakusabashi ichome. Ici aussi, ils ont gardé les barber-polls… [...]

   Posted by: Au Japon, enfin… | Pixels et papier on March 22nd, 2008 at 4:29 pm

8. [...] PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things” » Archive » An Animated Ad… [...]

   Posted by: – Anpanpon :P blog not bread – » Blog Archive » ทำไมร้านตัดผมต้องมีเสาสีแดง ขาว น้ำเงิน ?? on March 23rd, 2008 at 8:12 am

9. Did you not read the article but at all? It says above that they used to use red and white and then were forced to change to red, white and blue…

   Posted by: to-anon on March 23rd, 2008 at 8:20 pm

10. [...] PingMag does the hard work for us, beginning with the bloodletting barber surgeons and ending with the neon and LED poles of today. Perfect for Easter afternoon. « Schnell! [...]

    Posted by: Perpenduum » The Barber’s Pole on March 24th, 2008 at 3:26 am

11. Great article! I would probably never have read about the history of barber poles if it wasn’t for Ping Mag! Interesting…

    Posted by: Tanoshism on March 24th, 2008 at 1:49 pm

12. Great I love this, great research and cute pics. Thanks.

    Posted by: Anna on March 24th, 2008 at 2:05 pm

13. love the cartoon pole runing with the scissors.

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