After 53 years, Al passes along his barber scissors

by Bruce Farrin
     RUMFORD -- After 53 years of cutting hair, Al Prevost of Al's Barbershop on Congress Street has decided to retire at age 75.
     On Friday afternoon, Prevost ceremoniously passed the scissors to new owner, beautician and hairstylist Lisa Cormier. Her first haircut at the barbershop was to Roland Cote, who had been seeing Al for haircuts since Prevost began as a barber in 1956.
     Asked how Cote happened to start the barbershop trips with Prevost, he said it was because their wives were good friends. "He's been my only barber," said Cote, adding after Cormier finished his haircut, "I'm going to stay with Lisa."
     Then, as Cote was paying Cormier for the haircut, Al told him, "Don't pay over a $5 tip!"
     To which, Cormier playfully responded, "Al, mine your own business!"
     Prevost said he has known Cormier for years, who had been working next door at Davis' Florist. He would wave to her as she walked past the barbershop window and talked to her when he would shovel the snow in front of the flower shop.
     "I'm excited really," said Cormier, who recalled often saying in the past, "I would love to have that barbershop."
     Prevost held true to his promise to retire at 75 but not everyone was convinced he would.
     Among those in the barbershop Friday was Kyle Gray. He said several years ago, his mother, Mary Gray, took him and his brother to the barbershop when she told Al that if he retired at age 75, she would let him shave her head.
     Kyle and his brother reminded her of that and a couple weeks ago, Mary came in to hold up her end of the bargain. Al said he compromised and just gave her a crewcut. Kyle then showed people a picture of his mom's new haircut on his cell phone.
     Prevost noted an important element to his trade is the ability to remember how returning customers want their hair cut. "Everyone has their little specialities. If you don't remember those, they won't come back."
     He then demonstrated to Cormier the sign language he used to show prospective customers looking in the front window how many people were waiting to have their hair cut. That number isn't always obvious because sometimes, particularly when he was open on Saturdays, people were only there for the conversation.
     "If I had to do it all over again, I'd still have been a barber. This has treated me very well...I've had a ball. It was much more than I thought it would be," said Prevost, who added he really enjoyed the stories shared over the last half century.
     After working nearly a year in Rumford's paper mill, he said his sister urged him to become a barber in 1956, which he did after attending barber school in Lewiston.
     Prevost opened his first barbershop at the corner of Pine Street and Oxford Avenue in 1956, charging 50 cents a haircut.
     In addition to the barbershop, Prevost said he did haircuts for 40 years for residents at Rumford Community Home and and for 30 years for residents at the Victorian Villa Rehabilitation and Living Center in Canton.
     As for what Prevost will be doing in retirement, he said traveling is at the top of his list, starting with taking "The Cat" to Nova Scotia because "they have a good deal going on."
     Asked if she'll rename the business, Cormier quickly noted, "I'm keeping it as Al's Barber Shop. It 's always going to be known as Al's Barber Shop."
     She is going to change the colors inside, however, as she has the paint picked out.
     Cormier "officially" began cutting hair here yesterday. The only immediate change will be the hour she opens for business. The barbershop will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays.