1This week, with the Patriots preparing for the Super Bowl, the shop on Enon Street has been the go-to destination for boys who want to showcase their loyalty to the team beyond the usual Rob Gronkowski jersey.
As of yesterday afternoon, Sportsmen's co-owner Ward Arthur had carved and colored the Patriots logo into the excited heads of at least 10 young fans.
Yesterday, it was Steven and Jack Brown's turn. The 10-year-old twins had gotten their hair cut at Sportsmen's last week, but they came back after their mother, Nancy, saw a picture on Facebook of a boy who had gotten one of Arthur's Patriot specials.
"I immediately called him up," Nancy Brown said.
Accompanied by their mother, who had her nails painted in red, white and blue Patriots colors for the occasion, and their father, Dan, a Beverly policeman, the Brown boys showed up wearing new Tom Brady jerseys and smiles of anticipation.
Arthur, who has worked at Sportsmen's for 25 years, had done so-called "carving" haircuts in the past, the kind where you use the razor to draw a design in a customer's hair. He said they were big in the 1990s ("Remember Vanilla Ice?" he said) but are no longer in vogue.
The Patriots logo is particularly difficult to carve, he said. The stylized picture of a Patriot with a flowing helmet has been described as a "Flying Elvis" and requires intricate cuts to render the eye, nose and mouth.
"I shied away from it for years," Arthur said. "But I've been practicing."
Arthur flipped a coin to see who would go first, and Steven won. With the precision of a Brady pass, Arthur cut the outline of the logo and carefully carved out the features of the Patriot's face. He then colored them in with special red, white and blue "hair pattern" pastel pencils he had ordered online.
Fellow barber Jason Mower yelled over, "You're doing a Giants logo, right?"
"We wouldn't do it," Arthur said. "We'd kick them out."
Arthur then spun the chair around and carved "12," Brady's number, on the left side of Steven's head.
"What do you think, Hank?" Arthur called out to a customer in another chair. "The skill of a surgeon, right?"
Hank, Arthur quickly pointed out, actually is a surgeon.
"He fixed my hernia three weeks ago," Arthur said.
When Steven was done, his father gave him a high-five and said, "Looks awesome, Steve-O!" His mother added simply, "Wow!"
Arthur repeated the procedure with the red-headed Jack. When Arthur held up a mirror to show the logo, Jack said, "That's awesome."
Arthur then moved the mirror over to show the "12," and Jack summed up the whole experience on a super afternoon in the neighborhood barber shop.
"Sweet."
Staff writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2675 or by email at pleighton@salemnews.com.
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