Leave a Review

I’ll keep this post short and to the point. If you like your haircuts, please leave us a good review on Google and Yelp. 

Why? Besides your good reviews being rewarding for everyone at the shop, they help more people find out about us. After all, if you like your cut, don’t you want other guys to like their cuts too?

By leaving reviews, Google will know we are an active business that provides good service, and we’ll move up the search rankings. If you have any experience running a website, you know how much of a difference being on the first page of results is, and how much better it is to be the first or second result. 

So if you like your cut, please leave a 5 star review for us on Google and Yelp. Each review helps. In return, we will happily provide you with another good haircut and a beer the next time you’re in the shop.

Places we love: Revolution

Well, I wish I wrote this one sooner. With the news that the Revolution Brewing taproom on Milwaukee Avenue is closing I wanted to take a second to say how much we love them at the shop. 

Revolution has been around for a while. They’ve been in that Milwaukee Avenue location since 2010 -- not quite as long as the shop has been in the neighborhood, but not a bad run for any business. 

Do you remember what the beer market was like 16 years ago? It wasn’t great! Revolution was one of the first local craft brewers that really helped revitalize beer as well as the neighborhood. 2010 was a bad time economically, too, and Revolution really helped anchor the area. 

It sucks that they are closing the taproom. They’ve always had a great lunch menu and even better beer and having them nearby has been great. Take it from a barber: having good beer so close to the shop is a blessing and a curse. It’s one less good watering hole that’s basically next door to the shop. All of us here will miss it. 

On the bright side, their Kedzie Avenue taproom will remain open. In the meantime, go visit the Milwaukee Avenue location after your next haircut. They close for good on December 14. 

Book your holiday haircut

The title pretty much says it all. If you want to look your best for the holidays — Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, or any holiday you celebrate — now is the best time to book. 

Not tomorrow. Not next week. Now. Why now? Isn’t it too early to worry about mid-November?

Well, as you can imagine, when everyone wants to look good for the holidays at the same exact time, the shop can get busy. Very busy. So busy, in fact, that we cannot guarantee you a haircut if you do not book it this far in advance. 

Now, if you procrastinate on your Christmas shopping I can’t help you. But booking a haircut is infinitely easier than shopping for your office white elephant gift exchange. As of today, October 31, there is plenty of availability remaining for everyone who wants a haircut for the holiday season. But as we approach Thanksgiving, and then Christmas, the shop will not have the capacity to take those last minute shoppers, if you know what I mean. 

So while you’re here, go ahead and book your next haircut. We’ll see you soon.

Places we love: alarmist Brewing

Do you ever walk in somewhere and just know it will be good? A place where the beer flows, the bartenders and brewers are friendly, and the atmosphere puts you at ease. 

Alarmist Brewery on the northwest side hits all of those notes, and then some. I started stopping in a few years ago when I would ride around town, and after a while I became a regular. And for good reason: their beer is some of the best in the city. Don’t take my word for it. Their hazy Le Jus was the first ever hazy to win gold at the Great American Beer Festival back in 2018. And their pale ale Pantsless won bronze in 2020. 

Alarmist is more than just beer. They whip up one of my favorite Old Fashioneds and do other cocktails, too. They also often set up a projector to watch the Bears and other sports, and in good weather their outdoor patio is one of the best around. 

Fortunately for everyone, Alarmist and their award-winning beers are often available in the shop’s beer fridge. Book your next cut now — and enjoy some Alarmist on us.

Guest barber alert

We don’t host a lot of guest barbers at the shop, but pretty soon we will have a very special one. 

For one day only — October 10 — guest barber Natalie Roybal will be in the shop for haircuts and beard trims. 

Natalie is a friend of the shop. She’s been in business for 16 years and is based out of Denver, Colorado. She helped open Dark Rose Club, one of the best and well known barber shops in Denver. This is a great opportunity to get a haircut by one of the best barbers I know.

Natalie will be here for only one day. Book your cuts now!

Places we love: o’shaughnessy’s public house

Joe’s might be located in Logan Square, but that hasn’t stopped me from exploring other parts of town for a good drink and a bite to eat on my days off. 

One of my favorite spots is O’Shaughnessy’s Public House up in Ravenswood. From the outside it looks like a simple Irish pub, and inside it is not much different. 

But what sets O'Shaughnessy's apart is great food, stiff drinks, and friendly service. The Guinness is poured right every time and Old Fashioneds are made exactly how I like them. 

Next time you’re in, I would recommend you try the Irish Barber sandwich, named for yours truly after many, many visits. Here’s how they describe it:

Joe Jr from Joe’s Barbershop took his favorite item and made it better! Dare to try it!

Rashers, black and white puddings, bangers, grilled onions, grilled tomato, mustard aioli, and an over easy egg on white bread. Served with breakfast potatoes or Fries.

Sounds good, right? The next time you’re in the mood for an Irish pub that knows what it’s doing, you know where to go. 

O’Shaughnessy’s Public House
4557 N Ravenswood Avenue
Chicago, IL 60640

Places we love: the bob inn

Here is a new series we’re going to run at the shop: the barbers will recommend places for our clientele. I cannot tell you how many times I have been asked by a customer “what’s a good place to grab lunch?” or “where can I get a drink around here?”

So, starting here, I am going to recommend places that we all love at the shop and believe that you will love, too. 

Why can you trust us? Well, we see a lot of different people in the shop. We talk to them and we know where they prefer to eat, drink, and have a good time. We know our way around town, too, and we can recommend a spot for any occasion. 

Here is the first recommendation: the Bob Inn. 

We love the Bob Inn for a lot of reasons, but none more than this: it is about two feet from the shop. Never underestimate a bar that is so close to a barbershop. 

The Bob Inn opened in 1945 and has been a neighborhood fixture ever since. Now, don’t get me wrong, the Bob Inn is not a special bar. It is not even a particularly great bar. 

But it is the kind of bar that can only really exist in Logan Square at the corner of Rockwell and Fullerton. What I mean is that it is a neighborhood spot: everyone is friendly, and even if you don’t know names, you know faces. It is a cozy spot that is very lived in, and very authentic. If you’ve been searching for a quintessential Chicago dive bar, you’ve found your spot.

The Bob Inn is a welcoming watering hole where you can easily kill an afternoon or an evening (or even a whole day). And rarely for North Side bars, the Bob Inn is firmly a White Sox bar. 

So the next time you are in the shop for a cut, walk a few doors down and grab a cold one at the Bob Inn. Tell them Joe sent you — they’ll know who you mean. 

By appointment only

If you’ve been coming to the shop for a while, you know that we used to be strictly first-come, first-serve. Back then, if you asked me about making an appointment, I was adamant that would never happen and the shop would stick to tradition and accept walk-ins. Business was good and appointments just didn’t make sense. 

Then Covid happened. 

When the pandemic hit the shop was forced to close, like pretty much every other business out there. For obvious reasons, when things reopened guys were hesitant to come in. Business definitely took a hit, and to make things worse, it was unpredictable. 

Eventually we switched to an appointment system. We are never going back. I’ve definitely had to eat my words from before the pandemic, but appointments are here to stay. They offer more predictability for both barbers and customers and as a result, the peaks and valleys of business that are natural in barbershops are smoothed out a little. 

We’ve made it easy to make an appointment, too. Just follow this link. You’ll be able to see which barber is available and when, and pick what kind of cut you want (or a shave). The system asks for your credit card information, but you will not be charged unless you are a no-show. 

Walk-ins are still welcome, of course. We could never fully do away with that system. But if you want to guarantee your cut on your schedule — make an appointment.

how to maintain your hair cut

One of the questions we get the most at the shop is how often guys should come in to maintain their cuts, and we always have the same recommendation: six weeks. Anything longer than six weeks and the cut that you left happy with last time will look like a mop, and anything shorter just isn’t worth it. Like a medium rare steak, six weeks between cuts is the sweet spot to stay on top of your game.

Hair grows faster than you think, no matter how much or how little of it you have. In barber school (and the internet), they emphasize that hair can grow as much as 1 / 8 of an inch per week, or half an inch per month. So in six weeks your hair is growing back almost one full inch — which is more noticeable than you think, too. And if you wait eight weeks to come back for a cut, almost two months, your hair will grow back at least a full inch or more. 

But it’s not just the hair on top of your head growing back. It’s your sideburns, neck line, taper, and part. Everything needs to be maintained regularly to look your best. 

We understand that Covid made a lot of guys lose the motivation to get regular cuts. After all, if you’re working at home most of the time why bother to see us more than you need to?

But at Joe’s Barbershop Chicago, our philosophy is one everyone can relate to: “look good, feel good.” And it’s true, isn’t it? Who doesn’t feel better walking out with a fresh, professional cut? 

Making a habit of maintaining your cut will help you look cleaner — and feel better in the process, too. 

In the next post, we’ll talk about how to communicate with your barber to make sure you get the cut you want — and avoid something you don’t. 

In the meantime, book your next haircut at Joe’s here.