Dominic Cheff gives a haircut to his son, Tony. Cheff has been a barber for 60 years. Correspondent photo / Bill Koch

BOARDMAN — Dominic Cheff has spent his entire adult life as a barber, but he said it is not just about cutting hair.

“Guys come in and tell you their problems,” Cheff of Boardman, said. “They need somebody to talk to, almost like a bartender. I like all the guys because they started as friends or they became friends.”

He grew up in the Brier Hill neighborhood on the North Side of Youngstown on West Federal Street across from the Sheet & Tube office. When he was a teenager, his mother ran the grill at Strouss-Hirshberg downtown.

She asked customers if they had any work for her son and, as a result, after school he would go to Marty Swank’s barber shop at the corner of North Phelps and Commerce streets to “empty the spittoons, clean the floor and shine shoes. That’s how I got started.”

After graduating from Ursuline High School in 1961, he attended Akron Barber College. He completed the required 1,500 hours and took his test in Columbus.

“You had to have a model with you. You gave him a shave, haircut, and a facial or a scalp treatment,” Cheff explained.

He passed this as well as the written section and earned his license. The next step was an 18-month apprenticeship, which he fulfilled at the Esquire in the Liberty Plaza.

He then joined the Army National Guard. He was stationed in Fort Knox, Kentucky, did summer training for six years, and was a “weekend warrior” from 1963 to 1972. He was called out numerous times in Youngstown and Cleveland during riots.

The Fort Knox assignment was supposed to last six months, but because he was told he could leave 10 days early and still get an honorable discharge, Cheff forfeited his right to VA benefits for the rest of his life. Because of financial strain and lack of insurance, he said he worked midnights at Tamco Distributing for 13 years while operating a barber shop all day.

In 1963, Cheff returned from Fort Knox to resume his profession. While driving on Market Street, he saw an attractive woman. She gave him a fake name and he played along, although he knew who she was. Today, he and Rosemarie have been married 57 years and are the parents of Dominic and Anthony. Rosemarie also had a long career as a beautician.

In 1967, Cheff opened a shop in the Mill Creek Plaza. He was there for 25 years. He moved to Sam’s Wedge Inn in Austintown, at the current site of the Wedgewood Pharmacy, and stayed there another 25 years. Since 2016, he has been at 4222 Mahoning Ave.

He reminisced about hair styles.

“When I started, the flat top was the big haircut. If you couldn’t do it, you better learn. A variation was the New Yorker. Then there was the Peter Gunn, the Ivy League and the Four Freshmen.”

He said at the time it was standard for men to get a haircut every three weeks.

“Styles change but they don’t change. Kids come in now and want a fade. When they explain it, I tell them it used to be called ‘clippers around.’ Younger kids come in with their phones and ask me to make them look like the picture. Most of the time they’re satisfied when I’m done,” Cheff said.

He rarely does shaves, although he still has the razor strap. “When you got out of school in the 1960s, unless you got a job working at a hotel or airport, you didn’t do much of that. We’re a blue-collar town.”

Tony Cheff said his father constantly experimented on him and his older brother.

“Being the son of a barber, I’ve had virtually every kind of haircut imaginable,” Tony Cheff said.

When the weather cooperates, Cheff drives his 1966 Thunderbird to work. Tony noted, “If you Google ‘Dom Cheff’s Mug and Brush,’ there’s a picture of the shop and his Thunderbird parked in front of it.”

Since 1973, this has been how the clientele know Dom is ready for action.

Cheff’s youngest customers have been infants and his oldest is 94. He cut the hair of a boy who grew up to be one of his doctors. He has visited nursing homes and the houses of shut-ins, sometimes giving their final haircut.

“That’s the problem with the business when you’re older,” he said. “I miss the guys who would come in just to sit around and talk.”

Sixty-two years of standing and bending has taken a toll on his body. He had one carpal tunnel surgery and soon will have a second. He underwent a hip replacement and has rods in his lower back. He uses a walker to maintain his balance.

But he said he wouldn’t have chosen anything else.

“It’s a good business. I enjoy cutting hair. I enjoy the camaraderie of the guys. That’s one of the reasons I like to come to work every day. It’s just a fun job.”

To suggest a Saturday profile, contact Metro Editor Marly Reichert at mreichert@tribtoday.com.