We’ve all had a bad hair day, but a good haircut — a really good haircut — can give you a boost of confidence that you carry with you. For one Sechelt man, haircuts came to define his life.
After he graduated from high school, David LaChance spent his days “bumming around” in Prince George, until his mother told him he needed to get a job and settle down. She also knew what kind of job he should have: “Your dad was a barber and your brothers are barbers,” she told him. Even his dad’s brother had been a barber. “If it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for you.” In fact, she’d already signed him up to learn the tricks of the trade at the Vancouver Vocational Institute. During his work term, LaChance returned to Prince George to work with his brothers. At the time, he charged $1.25.
Over the years, LaChance worked at barber shops in Prince George, then Courtenay, his oldest brother’s shop in Kamloops and then lived in Vernon before he found himself in Powell River. He’d fallen in love with a local woman and his brother in Sechelt encouraged him to make the move to the Sunshine Coast officially. His brother Albert had grown tired of working six days a week and asked LaChance if he’d take over three days. For years, LaChance commuted from Powell River before he decided to move down to Sechelt.
Walking through the door of the Sechelt Barber Shop feels like taking a step back through time. The barber pole spins in the window. Sports memorabilia colours the walls, black-and-white vinyl checkers the floor and clippers and scissors are lined up ready to snip. Two black leather chairs wait. A framed photograph shows five men in leather jackets; LaChance’s old hot rod car club (his hybrid is parked outside). The shop is walk-in only, and the answering machine tells you not to bother leaving a message. The new owner says it's not a fancy shop, just a place to get a good quality cut.
The Sechelt Barber Shop on Wharf Avenue was bought around 50 years ago by LaChance’s brother. Albert was “a character of the Sunshine Coast,” LaChance says of his brother, and the kind of guy everybody knew. He “was a great talker, had an unbelievable memory” and loved to play pool. Albert played pool until the moment he died in his late eighties, 10 years ago, at a pool table in Roberts Creek. LaChance took over the business to keep the shop open.
“I couldn’t have picked a better job,” LaChance said. He tells young folks to choose jobs that don’t require a lot of physical effort, that aren’t too hard on your body. Besides the prices, the biggest change in the industry, LaChance said, came when the clippers became battery-powered and they were no longer wrestling with cords.
When he took over, LaChance was around 75 years old, and starting to feel his age. When his wife and brother died in the same year, he devoted himself to work. It was around this time that Brett Hopkins was introduced to LaChance. Hopkins was looking to get out of the music industry and was thinking about becoming a barber. At first, LaChance wanted nothing to do with the heavily tattooed 6’4” Hopkins. But Hopkins said he won LaChance over after he finished his training, and slowly began doing the lion’s share of the work and modernizing the business slightly. When LaChance was ready to sell, Hopkins was ready to buy.
On Mondays many businesses in Sechelt close after having worked the weekend, so LaChance offered to keep working one day a week to stay open. But he would also go to Totem Lodge, the long-term seniors care home in Sechelt, to cut the men’s hair. “Even the guys in Totem want to look good,” LaChance said. Some wouldn’t even realize he was cutting their hair but others looked forward to weekly chats about hockey and baseball and would notice if he changed his schedule. Totem Lodge, he said, made the seniors feel like they were being cared for at home. By cutting the residents’ hair, LaChance found a way to give some grace to growing old. Some of his longtime clients requested him for their last haircut, so LaChance obliged and cut their hair after they died so they would look good in their caskets.
“I was always pretty good at what I did,” LaChance reflects. He had a vision of what each client should look like, and he could get the job done quickly. He especially liked cutting the older guys’ hair — they had similar interests and styles and had witnessed the same things in life. Once, a younger customer left an online review saying the “lovely elderly gentleman cut my hair. But did hands down the worst job I've seen...” LaChance replied: “That’s my first complaint in 50 years. My solution: come on back in three weeks.”
You can’t take it too seriously, LaChance says. “It’s not brain surgery.”
To be a good barber, LaChance says you have to be a people person. “You want to be able to B.S. and stuff like that. It’s lots of fun.” He prides himself in making others laugh and has a lifetime of stories that will do the trick. He advises young barbers to be polite. “Go out of your way to help people. It doesn’t cost you anything.” Hopkins describes LaChance as a classy guy and a character in his own right. He and Albert, Hopkins said, were a fixture here.
Now 85 years old, LaChance said, “I’ve done so many things in my life… I’m tired. My bones ache and, yeah, it’s time for me to stop.” Around three weeks ago, when he woke up feeling sick, he decided that was it. He’d worked his last shift. The new owner, LaChance says, is young and “full of vim and vigour.”
In his life, LaChance has had seven dogs, six cats, three wives and two kids. Today, LaChance lives in Selma Park with his 20-year-old chihuahua. He talks to his daughter every day and sees his son often. LaChance is a self-proclaimed “wannabe chef,” often spending a whole day making a meal that he’ll share with his neighbours. (His peanut satay is popular, and requested by his daughter when he visits.) A sports fan like his brother Albert, LaChance loves watching baseball and hockey on his TV. On Mondays and Fridays, he plays snooker and grabs a beer with a friend. “It doesn’t get any better than that, to be with a good friend,” he said. “Because over the years, you don’t have many friends at the end.”
Every couple of months, LaChance goes to Horseshoe Bay to have dinner with an old friend from his schoolboy days. When his friend phones, he tells LaChance, “‘The only reason I’m phoning is you’re the only one still alive,’” LaChance says with a laugh. “I really have had a wonderful, gifted life. Lots of great people, very pretty ladies over the years. I’ve enjoyed every year of it.” There will always be some hard days too, but LaChance says you have to take the bad with the good.
While the Sechelt Barber Shop will be closed on Mondays going forward, it will be open on Sundays from 12:30 to 5 p.m., Hopkins said. And LaChance — who still has a key — will always be welcome back. LaChance says he will be in the chair soon. After all, he needs a haircut, too.
