In his small shop facing East Main Street in West Newton, Don Lux combed and trimmed John "Stew" Lyons' hair while two other customers waited, almost filling the creaky, wooden chairs to capacity while chuckling about barbers of years past.
"Not too many barber shops around anymore compared to what there used to be," said Lyons, rattling off the names of barbers who have since passed away.
"See why I'm getting out?" Lux joked. "I'm going to try and make it through the day."
The 70-year-old barber retired on Friday after more than 40 years in West Newton.
In the days leading up to his final swipe of the straight razor, customers-turned-friends kept Lux busy at his shop, where a handwritten sign on the wall noted that adult and children's haircuts cost $9.
Newspaper clippings featuring grandchildren on the honor roll and framed prints of wildlife hung among a display for 50-cent plastic combs and shelves of various hair tonics.
Lux sipped his daily coffee from Gary's Chuckwagon just down the street and recalled when he left the Army in 1961.
"When I got out of the service, I couldn't get a job anywhere, so guys talked me into going into barber school, and that's how it all got started," Lux said.
Fishing buddy Stan Sanner, another barber, persuaded the South Huntingdon High School graduate to return closer to home after Lux had apprenticed at a barber shop in Allegheny County.
"Stanley opened the shop up on Water Street and needed some help," he said of the local sportsman who died in December 2010.
In 1972, Lux noticed a storefront opening up on Main Street where another barber had worked for a few years.
"Stanley went by appointments, and I didn't really care for appointments," Lux said.
He was adamant about that, so the shop didn't have a phone.
Lux bought the equipment and set up shop in October that year at 207 E. Main St. He has been there since, cutting the hair of miners and steelworkers.
He and Lyons, 78, of Sewickley Township and Ralph Spitzer, 75, of West Newton, recalled the days when West Newton had a bowling alley, a five-and-dime store and a shoe store.
"You get an education being a barber, you meet all different kinds of people," he said.
Throughout the conversation, Lux was quick with his work.
With almost mechanical precision, he ran his straight razor across a leather strap hanging from his barber chair, lathered soap onto Spitzer's neck and carefully shaved around Spitzer's ears. He eyed up Spitzer's hairline, then wiped the rest with a towel.
The he whipped the cape off Spitzer, one of Lux's last customers.
His youngest daughter, Anita Lux Augustine, 37, opened a West Newton beauty shop in 2000. Three years later, she moved Anita's Salon to 165 N. Water St.
Lux and his wife, Alberta, sat down with Augustine and discussed her future when she was in high school.
"My dad said, 'Would you ever think about going to beauty school?' and I said I would," she recalled with tears in her eyes. "I've sat many times in my dad's barber shop ... and I'd watch him zip through people, and was inspired."
She cut his hair in her chair on Thursday.
"He sat in the chair with a smile and I said, 'Are you ready?' and he said yes," Augustine said. "As much as he's going to miss his clientele and talking barber shop with the men, I think he's ready to enjoy the rest of his life."
Lux said he'll spend more time with his family, including his three children -- Troy, Donna and Anita -- and eight grandchildren.
He'll have more time for hunting and fishing.
"I'm going to be having the boat in the water a lot more," he said.
Since 1997, the shop's window has displayed the mounted head of an 8-point buck. For the Christmas season, it wore a red plastic nose.
"The kids got a kick out of it, big time," he said.
Yesterday, the genial barber shook hands with well-wishers. They brought gifts, cards, a case of beer and homemade wine.
He has spoken with a young woman who is interested in the store. She works as a barber with her father in nearby Boston, a community in Allegheny County.
Lux said he will miss the conversations.
