The Oldest Barber in the World Lives in Eastern Cuba? (Version en español disponible).

By Amauris Betancourt.
amauris@radioangulo.icrt.cu

His steady hand holds up the scissors. His sight, 20x20, can not be better. He has never worn eyeglasses. Some neighbors have him help threading needles. The oldest active barber in business in Cuba; maybe in the whole world, but it is difficult to say.

He is 95, but keeps a desirable freshness worthy of envy by any young boy. A fine, witty sense of humor, part of Cuban idiosyncrasy, keeps him company. José Azze Yunes, alias Pepito, started as a barber in 1927. “Nowadays three months are enough to become a hairdresser.” – Pepito says– “I learn by watching after having been apprentice for 18 months at Alberto Garcia’s barber’s shop."

Pepito knows how to use the modern small hair-cutting machine; Present-day barbers prefer to avoid scissors. New styles are also different but I keep them the old way. His barber's shop at Peralejo 37 resembles a plateau for a XX century movie and is a meeting place for friends and passing-by neighbors who never miss a chance to pull his leg as a way of greeting. Pepito was born on March 19, 1913. Is he the oldest barber in the world? I hope these lines for the World Wide Web help us find it out.