Just before finishing my interview with David Gedman, owner of Vagabond Barber Company, I asked him what surprises he encountered as a barber. His answer shocked and horrified me.
“Hair splinters,” he said with a faraway look in his eyes. “They don’t teach you about it. You don’t learn anything about it. You just have to figure it out when your hands start hurting.”
Hair splinters are exactly what they sound like. Trust me, you don’t want to verify any of this with a Google image search, but apparently you have to pull them out with tweezers before they get infected and develop blisters.
And now that I have your attention, allow me to introduce David Gedman, barber and owner of Vagabond Barber Company at Main and Dodds. He’s originally from New Jersey. After briefly trying out Nashville, he decided to move to Chattanooga instead.
“I’m not hating on Nashville,” he assured me in that way that people often do before hating on Nashville, “but I found better aspects of community here in Chattanooga. It’s more tight-knit with more first year entrepreneurs and well established businesses trying new things.”
To call Vagabond a barbershop would grossly undersell the experience. At first glance it looks like a retro 50’s barber. But on closer inspection you’ll uncover nostalgic treasures from different periods in American history.
“There are all sorts of oddities and cultural highlights from over the years – the 80’s and 90’s, the 40’s, even the 1920’s. There’s a little piece of everything,” he said.
While yes, you can definitely get a great haircut at Vagabond, the place also functions like a little museum of weird artifacts Gedman has collected over the years.
“That chair,” he said, pointing at the chair in which I was sitting, “that’s actually an old prison barber chair from the Auburn State Penitentiary in New York.” Another chair came from a Turkish barber in Nashville.
In addition to cutting hair, Vagabond has also hosted a few concerts. “We’ve had In The Company of Wolves and their Be the Change youth initiative,” he said. “We also had the Afternooners.”
This Thursday September 5th Vagabond will host a Quiet City pop-up concert featuring Randy Steele, Tigris Nevans, and Joshua Cruce. Music starts at 8, and there is a $10 cover.
Vagabond Barber Company is located at 2602 E Main Street at the corner of Main and Dodds. If you’re in need of a haircut, make sure to call ahead and book a reservation. Also bring some cash because they don’t take cards.