Details of the Shelly Ivey Barber Shop are listed in the Barber Shop Listing for Tennessee.

Something made me say yes, and we progressed through several more stages. He finished each stage, cleaned it up, and asked me each time if it was short enough. With perfect patience, he kept going shorter until I ended up with a traditional short crewcut with tapered edges and a slight landing strip. It was absolutely the best haircut I had ever had. Seeing those tangles of multi-colored sun bleached hair on the floor made me realize how ridiculous I had looked for so long. He took the clippers to the beard, too, and suddenly I saw an unrecognizable muscular young man in the mirror before me. I looked younger, yes, but also much better. I thought the long hair and beard made me look sexy and "alternative" but I realized that I had been hiding behind them.

The reaction was incredible. I was nervous at first at how people would react. Universally, however, everyone loved the new me. The women at the building supply store we had been frequenting all summer rubbed my buzzed head with glee. My buddy took me out for a celebratory drink after work, and I found women looking at me like they had never done before. Even the beautiful hippy chick I had been interested in all summer, a Deadhead with long flowing red tresses, couldn't get over the look -- and feel -- of my head. We ended up dating, and it's ironic when I look back now that fear of her disapproval was the only negative thought that entered my mind during the haircut. I shouldn't have worried.

Even though I left the area after that job, I still made it back to Woody's shop occasionally for haircuts. Each time I get a haircut from him, I realize how much more skilled he is than the average short haircut barber. He takes his time, and does what you want, but isn't afraid to make suggestions. He is not a butcher who gets a thrill from buzzing stray hippies who enter his shop. He seems instead to be interested in making each haircut, no matter what the length, the absolute best it can be. He does a whole range of styles and lenghs but in my biased opinion, the short cuts are the best. I later grew the crewcut out a bit into a flattop, and experienced a whole new level of Woody's artistry. He has the best flattop method I've ever experienced, and in the years since that first buzzcut I've become something of an expert on the subject. He has a way of cutting a flattop that somehow keeps it standing straight and rigid, even if you don't continue to use the Butch Wax that he applies.

That summer crewcut changed my life and I've been a convert ever since. There were so many highpoints to that haircut: the breeze on my neck as we left the shop, the comfort I felt on the worksite all day (how had I put up with all that sweaty hair for so long?), unexpected glimpes of the "new me" in the mirror when I didn't recognize myself. Perhaps the best part was waking up the next morning and rubbing my curiously light-feeling head. I was momentarily startled, and then remembered the whole thing. Stumbling into the bathroom, rubbing my buzzed head, I saw not the usual tangle of blond and brown strands in my face, but the same perfect crewcut I had gone to bed with the night before.

Okay, this has turned into more of a personal experience story than a barbershop listing. But Woody is an awesome barber, and if some fellow grungy hippy discovers him because of this posting, then it was worth my time to write all of this.