Abel’s Barbershop: A trip to the past

By Joe Olvera ©, 2012

Men – are you tired of going into a barbershop where you want to relax while your hair is being worked on, only to find yourself in a snip-snip situation and you’re out the door in less than five minutes? Aare you longing for a clean shave where a towel made hot by a vaporizer is wrapped around your face to make the whiskers soft and easy to shave, but, you can’t find such a barbershop? Are you looking for someone to give you a razor cut, leaving your hair exactly as you want it? Well, look no more. Abel’s Barbershop, at 1605 George Dieter, Ste. 205, is just the place for you.

“We do old-fashioned hair-cuts, where we take our time to give our clients the best service they can receive,” says owner Abel Garcia. “But, we don’t do only old-fashioned haircuts. We also do modern cuts. Whatever the client wants, that’s what we do. However, we do believe in sticking to our roots because you don’t see this type of  barbershop anymore.”

Garcia has been cutting hair since he was 16 years old, when his dad gave him an ultimatum. ”You either stay in school, or you learn to cut hair by working in my shop. When I turned 18, I was already a professional. I did attend a barber college, but, as an instructor, not as a student.” Garcia said his clientele runs the gamut of men, from soldiers at Fort Bliss to big-time politicians and just regular folks who like for his barber to take his time, to help him relax, and to do the best job possible.

“Too many barbershops don’t do the work we do,” Garcia said. “They want to get their customers in and out like an assembly line. But, these aren’t products, these are real-live people. We treat everyone the same. We don’t hurry up the job for anybody. They all get the same treatment.” Garcia, 52, said he has been married 32 years and has three boys and one girl, three of them work in the shop.

On the shop’s website, two clients wrote comments about why they like Abel’s:

Rick: “I have been coming to this establishment for 25 years and the service is awesome.

On a personal note, Abel has been my personal barber for most of those 25 years. They are the best in this business.”

Guest 71693: “Wow! What a place. A very friendly atmosphere. Employees are  professional and courteous.  A new touch to an old school style.”

“We’ve made our reputation and our clients keep coming back,” said Garcia. “I started out at my dad’s barbershop when I was 16. I started shining shoes and sweeping the floor. I learned by watching my father. He was a consummate professional who treated everyone with courtesy and with respect. He left me a legacy on which I could grow. I love my work, I love my clients, and I’ll keep doing this until the day I die. “