Service with a smile

Some things just get better with time.

Others have been good the whole time - such as the Model Art Barber Shop, which today celebrates its 50th year as a Kinston hit.

Pearlie "P.H." Pigford served in the Korean War as a paratrooper for the Army's 11^th Airborne Division. Originally from Wallace, he said he came home from the war and tried his hand at farming, the very craft that saw him through childhood.

But it didn't work out too well.

So, off the strength of the fledging GI Bill, Pigford began attending school at the Durham Institute of Barbering, which he graduated from in 1955, before moving to Jacksonville to work.

"I worked as a barber in Jacksonville, but I didn't make enough to pay a gas bill," Pigford said. "A fellow by the name of Joe Hill came by and said he guaranteed we could make $50 a week barbering with him.

"He owned The Friendly Barbershop in Kinston."

Pigford accepted Hill's offer and worked at the Friendly Barbershop for about a year and a half until Hill began hinting at closing the shop. Then, Pigford made a choice that would impact Kinstonians for years to come - he decided to open up his own shop.

Model Art Baber Shop opened in 1958 in downtown Kinston, next to the post office on Queen Street. It moved to its location in Kinston Plaza 7 years later, where it still operates today, 50 years later.

"Those were some real nervous times, those 4 or 5 months before we ever got settled in (at the plaza location)," Pigford said. "But business has been wonderful ever since we've been out here."

Pigford has cut the hair of and shared conversations some of Kinston's most influential men and women, including judges, lawyers, mayors, congressmen and senators. Many began coming to Pigford to get their ears lowered before their careers took off.

He remembers cutting the hair of Rep. Walter B. Jones' father, who was serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. He called Kinston Mayor Buddy Rich a regular in his chair at the shop.

But Pigford stressed what has made his shop such a hit around Kinston for so many years was the welcoming atmosphere it provided for everyone. It's not uncommon for Pigford's place to be lined with customers, reading The Free Press and drinking coffee - many who are not even in line for a trim.

Christmastime is especially busy.

"Our motto is, ‘customers are precious,' " Pigford said. "People come from all over, as far away as Rocky Mount.

"It's not that I'm better at it, I'm just known."

Joe Cameron, 55, who remembers Pigford giving him one of his first haircuts when he was a child, thinks there's more to Pigford's success than that.

"I think most people are satisfied with his work and the service, so they keep coming back," Cameron, a preacher, said. "People are funny about their hair - they'll drive a long way just to get it done like they want it.

"When I was in the Air Force, I would come home just to get a haircut from P.H."

Cameron's sentiments were shared by his father, Gene, who said, among other qualities, it was P.H.'s amiableness that's kept him coming back for years.

"He started cutting my hair when he worked with Joe Hill," Gene said. "I like for the same barber to cut my hair because I don't even have to tell him how I want it cut - he already knows.

"And he has a friendly wife."

Pigford, who has been married to his wife, Sherley, the whole time he's been in business, maintains his devotion to customers has been most critical. He tries to offer whatever style they prefer, using products most shops have begun to consider old-fashioned.

He offers hair tonics to keep hair looking glossy - a hit among his elderly patrons. For $8, he'll give men an old-fashioned shave with a straight-edge razor and warm shaving cream. According to Pigford, the primitive way lasts a day longer than shaving at home.

Then there's the shoe-shining service Model Art has flaunted since its inception - an offering that still spurs customers to bring in footwear by the bagful. And the massages, facials and mud packs are hard to find elsewhere in Kinston.

Not to mention, the hair-burning technique Pigford learned in school. Pigford runs a lighter through the stretched-out hair of thinning patrons and seals the follicles. He then rubs their head with a newspaper to meld the follicles shut.

That's still not all customers come to Model Art's for, either - the shop also offers hair coloring, toupees and pecans.

Yes, pecans.

Pigford said he'll often allow farmers to sell their bounties in his shop, which usually entails watermelons, pumpkins, flower seeds and between 2,000 and 3,000 pounds of pecans. His extracurricular barbering practices don't end there, though.

Much of the hair swept from the floors ends up spread around the several farms he has in Lenoir in Duplin counties - a tactic used to keep animals, who are repelled the scent of human hair, away from his corn, bean and tobacco fields.

Employee Terry Braxton, who has been cutting hair for 20 years, said there's always something to be learned from Pigford.

"It's a learning experience," she said, adding she enjoyed working in the stress-free environment where "everyday people" get their hair cut. "I've got 20 years of experience and I've never seen anyone burn hair."

Employee Jeannie Ives, who has been cutting hair for 29 years and is also an artist, said she's thankful for her boss' knowledge of and devotion to the job too.

"You can be a free spirit here," Ives said. "I learned how to cut a man's hair from P.H.

"He's just a laid-back country boy."

Justin Schoenberger can be reached at (252) 559-1075 or jschoenberger@freedomenc.com.