Walking into The Going Thing Hair Co., you are immediately brought back to the era of the barber. A time of the red, blue and white gyrating pole out front, a time when going to get your cut could last hours because of the associated socializing, a time that Larry Cathey, owner and operator of The Going Thing Hair Co., remembers fondly.
“Back in the day, the barber’s was a meeting place basically,” Cathey said. “People would come in an hour early to meet people to talk.”
Cathey has been cutting hair at Saint Louis University since 1973, where he started off with a location in the Busch Student Center. Cathey now operates his business in the on the bottom floor of the Marchetti Tower West apartments.
In his prominent years, Cathey said he had a clientele of over 500 people and would see up to 28 people a day. Now he admits he is lucky to see around four people a day, but the low numbers do not prevent him from continuing to run his business.
“I’m not making money anymore, but I stay here because of my people,” Cathey said. “They’re my family basically.”
The value Cathey places into his relationships is evident through his stories of helping out clients when money is slim, of going to clients’ weddings, of making house calls for the elderly, of crying when he had to tell people he was going out of business.
“I’m going to sound like a big baby, but when I gave people cards saying I was going to close shop, I had tears in my eyes,” Cathey said. “I’ve been with these people for 20, 30 years.”
Cathey criticizes the modern industry of hair cutting and dressing because it lacks the personal aspect. He attributes this to the constant need to be working or doing something productive.
One thing Cathey said is no longer a priority for people: personal appearance.
“No one takes care of themselves anymore,” Cathey said. “The guys walking around here look like shit, and the women, shoot, the women look like they’ve been drug through an alley.”
After his bluntness, Cathey stated he has often been called “Crazy Larry.”
Though the majority of campus, according to Cathey, is lacking on personal appearance, he is sure to note one prominent member of the community has been under his coiffing care for many years and ensures he remains in tip-top hairstyling shape.
“It was a funny story actually when [Lawrence Biondi, S.J.] came in for the first time, he sits down and said, ‘Hey son, do you know who I am?’” Cathey said. “My response: ‘Campus Ministry?’”
Cathey said he and Biondi have been working together ever since. Biondi sponsored Cathey during his dragster racing years, a fact proven by a framed picture of Biondi, Cathey and a SLU-themed dragster that now hangs on the wall of Cathey’s shop.
Though Cathey has been working with Biondi for over 30 years, he said Biondi still seems to get upset with how long it takes Cathey to cut his hair. Eight minutes is Cathey’s record.
Another claim to fame for Cathey: He cuts his own hair.
“I take a number three on top, a number two on the sides,” Cathey said. He does admit he has someone trim around his ears.
Though Cathey cuts his own hair and Biondi’s, he does encourage students and other SLU community members to stop by and to see for themselves what it truly means to go to the barber shop.
