Old Familiar is among a new crop of central Ohio ventures blending the hairstyles and aesthetics of days past with modern workplace hallmarks such as tattoos, social-media savvy and a sharp appreciation for nostalgia. Guys seeking the precise side parts and pastelike pomade of yore have become plentiful.

The basics of the barbering business, Kenji Prince knows, have changed little through the decades: Boys and men will always need a cut, a shave, a respite on Saturday mornings.

On the other hand, he also knows that the conventional trade didn�t involve pursuits such as his recent parties with honky-tonk guitarists, a Kickstarter campaign to develop a specialty comb or the posting of smartphone images depicting the shop�s rockabilly-chic clientele to 3,000 Instagram followers.

Nor is it likely that Grandpa�s joint performed weddings.

Prince, ordained online, has married customers inside his Old Familiar Barber Shop, outfitted with leather easy chairs, deer heads and a vintage piano.

Still, a typical day at the Olde Towne East business � with its lower-priced haircuts ($15) and dirty jokes (free) � evokes a similar ethos.

�It�s like Cheers,� said Prince, a 34-year-old whose shop last month celebrated its second anniversary. �Everybody knows who you are.�

Old Familiar is among a new crop of central Ohio ventures blending the hairstyles and aesthetics of days past with modern workplace hallmarks such as tattoos, social-media savvy and a sharp appreciation for nostalgia.

Guys seeking the precise side parts and pastelike pomade of yore have become plentiful.

Old Familiar, for one, no longer accepts walk-ins and has a three-week waiting list.

�I�ve never seen it like this, ever,� said Philip Wade, a Columbus barber for two decades now working at Niko�s Barber Shop.

The German Village establishment, which two years ago moved into a larger space featuring tin ceilings and countertops made from salvaged bowling lanes, is abuzz.

�The hipster culture brought it back,� said Wade, 44.

Also part of the revival is the Short North storefront occupied by Turner�s Barber Shop & Shaving Parlor � formerly Jerry�s Barber Shop, a neighborhood fixture for 40 years � that in 2012 received a turn-of-the-century makeover by new owner Chris Turner.

An antiques dealer on the side, he decorated the space with pelts, old photos and rifles. Issues of Playboy and Out, a gay men�s lifestyle magazine, share space on a rack. Classical music plays softly on satellite radio.

Clients in waiting might kick back on a Victorian-era sofa.

There, a haircut takes time.

�There�s good company; you hang out and talk for a little bit,� said Andrew Sakamoto, who visited the shop recently for a cut that was topped off with a hot towel on his neck.

The 32-year-old from Grandview Heights relishes the leisurely routine � a welcome change after nine years in the military, where a soldier�s utilitarian trim consisted of an impersonal once-over with clippers.

For Turner, a Coshocton native who worked in barbershops along High Street in Columbus for several years, the feeling is mutual: �If you want to talk, I�m all ears.�

Wearing either a classic white barber jacket or a vest and tie, the 26-year-old sports a waxed mustache and, on his hands, permanent inkings of a barber pole and a straight razor.

�I could see myself doing this for the next 50 years,� Turner said.

Unlike tattooing, which in Ohio requires no formal training, barbering is a certified occupation.

A barber license requires 1,800 hours of schooling (with course work in microbiology and chemistry), said David Gail, director of education for the Ohio State College of Barber Styling, one of several programs in the area. Tuition there is $13,400.

Enrollment has remained steady even as the profession enjoys a newfound cachet, Gail said, but he does encounter more graduates with entrepreneurial ambitions.

�There�s something cool about having creative control,� said Mitch Geiser, who, after completing barber college in 2011, opened Vice Barber, a one-man operation housed inside Virtue Salon in the Clintonville neighborhood.

Like his peers, Geiser, 24, fields customer requests for retro styles that include more dramatic fades; clean-cut looks of the Mad Men era; and a military-inspired �high and tight,� featuring shorn sides and a longer top for contrast (he often posts �before� and �after� photos online).

Still popular at Vice and other shops are old-time straight-razor shaves, which, depending on the vendor and his process, can take an hour or longer.

�It�s art, definitely,� said barber Josh Russ, 24, of the Noble Baron � a New Albany shop that opened in 2011 and has a barber chair that, according to legend, was once housed in the private office of Chicago gangster Al Capone.

Those receiving shaves at the Noble Baron might opt for modern add-ons such as clay facials and a machine that creates galvanic currents to kill facial bacteria.

�This is a whole different world,� Russ said.

Barbering itself, of course, is hardly new. Razor artifacts traced to ancient Egypt serve as a testament to the occupation�s deep roots.

The job also entailed surgical duties until the late 1700s, said Mike Ippolti, director of the National Barber Museum and Hall of Fame in Canal Winchester.

�You could get your appendix out, your teeth pulled and your hair cut in one fell swoop,� said Ippolti, noting that the red and blue stripes seen on the iconic barber pole symbolize the former practice of bloodletting, which was assumed to cure diseases.

Niko Prokos is happy to carry on the legacy � concerning hair care, at least.

The Detroit native worked in real estate and home renovation before reshaping those pursuits.

�I like creating, man,� said Prokos, the 31-year-old founder of the German Village shop that employs Wade � and soon, to meet demand, two more barbers.

�To do a really nice haircut and when you spin somebody around and they smile � there�s nothing like it.�

kjoy@dispatch.com

@kevjoy