THERE is no signboard outside the modest shophouse on a quiet street in Air Itam, Penang.
After 55 years, barber Khoo Huat Hin doesn’t need one.
At 75, Khoo is a living landmark.
Every morning, he flings open the wooden doors to a space where time has seemingly stood still.
The leather chairs are heavy, sturdy relics inherited from his father. They are bolted to the floor and hold the weight of three generations.
“Our shop attracts people from all walks of life.
“Today, most of them are familiar faces,” said Khoo as his steady hands carried out the delicate, old-school task of trimming nosehair.
In the era of “designer barbershops” and RM80 charge for tapered cuts, Khoo’s shop is a sanctuary of simplicity.
He began helping at his father’s shop as a young man.
Over the decades, it offered more than just haircuts – perms and even ear cleaning were once part of the routine. Now he runs the shop alone.
There are no appointments needed.
About 30 customers drop by daily; Khoo already knows the geography of their scalps.
“They just sit down and we chat about life while I finish the haircut,” he said.
The “clack-clack” of manual clippers has long been replaced by the hum of electric ones, but the atmosphere remains the same.
For RM10, you get a haircut. For RM20, Khoo will dye your hair black – the only colour he stocks.
“It helps people like us keep looking young,” he jokes, a glint of mischief in his eyes.
Though Khoo is well past retirement age, the bond keeps him behind the chair.
“We aren’t just barber and customer anymore.
“I may retire soon, but I still want to see them,” he added.
Across town at the Rifle Range Flats, 82-year-old Pang Chong Look is practising a vanishing art.
While modern barbers rely on disposable safety blades, Pang still steadily wields a foldable straight razor.
The steel is thin, worn down by decades of weekly sharpening on a whetstone.
“Each razor lasts about three months,” Pang said, his eyes focused on the silver blade and the task he’s carrying out with practised precision.
Fearing the extinction of his tools, he bought dozens of these razors years ago.
Today, he is down to his very last one.
Pang has been a fixture at these flats since 1970, opening his shop just as the first residents moved in.
Fifty-six years later, his price remains at RM10.
For both men, these shops aren’t just about business and profit margins.
“It’s about providing a service to the locals,” said Pang.
