A good trim and shave isn’t always easy to find. Darsie Rogers, longtime barber and shop owner, has been cutting hair at the University Barber Shop since June 10, 1960, and his consistency has made the shop an Auburn icon.

After 56 years, Rogers has announced his retirement and has enjoyed it so far.

“[Retirement] is better than I thought,” Rogers said. “I sleep late.”

Rogers lives with his wife on a farm in Notasulga, Alabama. He said he enjoys the quiet and tends not to come into town much now that he has stepped out from behind his downtown barber’s chair.

He was born and raised across the road from where he currently lives.

“All I knew about was farming when I was a kid,” Rogers said. “When I’d get out of school, I’d help my father with [the farm].”

His family’s land has been a part of his life for as long as he can remember.

Rogers joined the Army and served for 14 months. He was stationed in Italy and said he enjoyed his time serving. Rogers’ son, an Auburn graduate, is a two-star general in the Army. Rogers’ wife said her son listened to his grandfather and father talk about military life and played with military figurines when he was growing up.

Rogers has been married to his wife for 54 years. She went to Troy University.

After his time in the military, Rogers decided to go to barber school.

He laughed as he told a story about going to a nursing home and shaving the elderly men. One man laid coughing in bed, making it practically impossible for Rogers to perform a clean shave.

“I was up in his bed with him trying to get to him,” Rogers said.

Darsie Rogers started cutting hair in 1960. (iStock)

He was told by the man that it was the worst shave he had ever had. Rogers agreed with him.

Opening up a barber shop was simply “a way to make a living.”

After graduating from barber school in Atlanta, Rogers made his way to Auburn. He worked for other barbers for about two months until he opened his own shop.

There were about 10 barber shops spread through downtown Auburn at the time of Roger’s opening. Rogers said he wasn’t scared about opening a shop with so much competition around because the other shop owners were old and he was young.

“I knew all of the other barbers, there weren’t any fighting going on,” Rogers said. “Nobody cut their prices or anything like that.”

Rogers said hair stylings change every three or four years.

“When I started out it was all long hair,” Rogers said. “People didn’t take care of their hair like they do now. Long hair and sitting around doing nothing. A lot of times we’d only have one barber here.”

Rogers said his shop doesn’t specialize in cutting female’s hair, but he cuts his wife’s hair. He said if someone wants a cut, they won’t turn them away.

Rogers received a “Flat-Top” award. He said after cutting so many his entire staff developed the skill.

One element of the job that hasn’t changed is the conversation.

“Barber shop talk is about the best you can get,” Rogers said. “We talk about whatever is on people’s mind when they come in. Football and Auburn are the main things.”

The history of the shop and it’s owner’s life is demonstrated by the accumulation of Auburn signage, a photo of a bird dog capturing Roger’s love for hunting and the classic barber shop light out front, where the cash register sits now, a shoe-shine station used to rest.

Rogers spoke about his barber chairs, the best from their time, giving the shop character. He purchased the chairs at the opening of his shop.

“I wanted the best chairs for the money at that time and that’s what I bought,” Rogers said.

Aside from the interior of the shop, the location is “the best there could be.”

Rogers said you can’t beat watching a football game in the shop and looking out the windows to see fans rolling the corner afterward. Leaving campus, the barber shop is one of the first things you see, Rogers said.

“I meet someone new every day,” Rogers said. “You meet some good people, some bad people and some outlaws.”

During game weekends, Rogers has old friends and clients stop in to say hello after leaving the stadium.

“You think you’ll never see them again when they leave and then they show up,” Rogers said. “Big name people, like Pat Sullivan, were good people to know back then.”

Rogers said he has lots to keep him busy through retirement and doesn’t see himself missing the work. He hates the cold weather and enjoys being in the sun.

“If we get bored on the farm, we can go out to our house on the lake,” Rogers said. “I’ve got too much to do to miss it.”

The shop is open for the time being. Rogers cuts his neighbors’ hair and plans to continue doing so despite his retirement.

This story originally appeared in The Auburn Plainsman.