The longest-lived barber in Barcelona continues to cut hair at 89 years old

BarcelonaHe passes a few meters from the construction of the new Sants station, but the scene seems more like something from another time. From another city. Sitting in the electric wheelchair he uses to get around, Ramon Bruño is easy to see on many mornings. He might seem like just an elderly man enjoying the fresh air on Riego street, but Ramon is waiting for clients. At 89 years old, he is still at the helm of his small barbershop in Sants. And he is, for sure, the oldest barber in Barcelona.

"I get bored at home," he replies, amused, when asked why he still works. His father opened the business in 1943, and he started wetting the first beards when he was very young. "At seven years old I was already helping him," he recalls. 82 years later, he continues to serve loyal clients who trust his hands. Ramon has a few commandments: he doesn't make appointments – if you arrive and he's free, you sit down – he only cuts with scissors – "I don't want to know anything about machines," he says – and he doesn't talk about politics.

The place has the charm of things that have been frozen in time. As an example, consider the shelf – almost an altar – where Ramon displays all sorts of tools and products from another life: one of the first bottles of Floïd, soaps of all kinds, a historic hairdryer, various photographs of him and his father working... Testimonies of a history, that of the barbershop, which is also that of the Bruño family and, of course, that of the Sants neighborhood.

Ramon summarizes the change the area has undergone, evoking two images from the past. When the street was still dirt – and not the pleasant pedestrian walkway it is now – and when the train still ran in the open air and smoke could be seen from the barbershop. A passage of time that, he admits, has also changed the human landscape of the neighborhood. "I've seen many neighbors leave. The last ones, a few days ago, moved to the village because they could no longer climb the stairs to their apartment," he says.

Hairstyle trends have also changed. During his military service, he specialized in razor cuts, but "it was only fashionable for four or five years." "Then the Beatles came along and everyone wore their hair long, until Grease and John Travolta," he adds. Now, he jokes, he prefers not to talk about the tastes of younger clients. His clients – many of whom are veterans – are more classic, but Ramon warns that every haircut, mustache, or beard is a world: "The barber is always a bit of an artist," he laughs.

The jewelry dream

The place has changed little over time. The blue wooden door and the austere sign with black letters on white bear witness to this. In the past, however, there had been up to four chairs for cutting hair. Then Ramon installed a screen to make the place smaller when the Porcioles Town Hall started charging local businesses based on available square meters. Now there are only two chairs. One for adults and one for children with a horse in front that has been there for decades. "I wanted to put Bambi there, but it was so successful that it was sold out and in the end I opted for the horse," he explains. Even now, many parents and grandparents pass by the barber shop with their children and grandchildren and tell them that one day they sat in that chair when they were little.

Even though he has been in the barber shop for over eighty years, Ramon confesses that his dream was not to cut hair. "If I had had studies or money, I would have dedicated myself to jewelry," he assures, and explains that even now he cuts earrings, pendants, or rings he likes from magazines. However, he continues to open the business every morning and promises to keep going strong "as long as the body holds out." "I will come as long as I am here," finishes Joan, one of the loyal clients who this Wednesday morning has just left the barber shop looking sharp.