Ray LindellOwner, cutting since 1996
Flat-tops, clipper over comb, and the men who have been coming in since before the shop had a name. Bought the place in 2009 and kept the chairs, the customers and the radio.
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Saturday is a line. Ask the commissioner.
Union Chair is a four-chair barbershop on West Seventh Avenue in Augusta. Ray Lindell owns it, Dez, Sol and Cody cut beside him, and between us it's fades, flat-tops, kids' hair and a hot-towel shave with a straight razor. Weekdays you can book. Saturday you get in line like everybody else.
On the floor right now
Saturday, 9:40 amRayChair one
Flat-top
Done in about 10 minutes, if Gene stops talking.
DezChair two
Skin fade
Halfway. A fade does not get rushed.
SolChair three
Kid on the booster
Five minutes. He has a lollipop.
CodyChair four
Sweeping up
Next name on the list sits down now.
Union Chair
Prices on the board, cash or card
- Haircut30 min$24
- Skin fade40 min$28
- Flat-top35 min$26
- Buzz, one guard$15
- Kids' cut, 12 and under$16
- Seniors, Tue to Fri$18
- Beard trim and line-up$14
- Hot-towel shave40 min$32
- Haircut and shave$52
- Neck clean-up$8
Sat line starts 7:30
Saturday, and the commissioner
A county commissioner once asked for a Saturday appointment. He stood in line with everyone else, and he got a very good haircut. Here's what the wait usually looks like, so you can plan around it better than he did.
Usual Saturday wait, in minutes
Averaged over the Saturdays from June through September this year.
Before 8:30Coffee's still brewing and you're in a chair in twenty.
9:00 to 11:00Out the door. Bring a book, or join from home.
After 12:30The best hour to bring a kid who hates waiting.
Some Saturdays we close the list at noon so the last cut finishes by two. When that happens it goes on the website and the sign in the window at the same minute, so nobody drives in from Andover just to look at the sign.
Kids' cuts go on the same list as everybody else's. Sol takes most of them, and by her mirror there's a booster seat, a cape with dinosaurs on it and a jar of lollipops that is mostly for bribery.
Big Saturday night? Book the fade for Friday. The line doesn't know about your date.
"Bring him in hungry and he'll fidget the whole time. Bring him in after a donut and I can fade a four-year-old."
Marisol Reyes, chair three
Ask for anybody by name. Except on Saturday.
Tuesday to Friday, ask for whoever you like. On Saturday the list is first come, first served, and you get whoever is free. All four of us cut a fade. Ask Ray who should cut your flat-top and he'll point at himself.
Dez HarmonHere since 2015
Skin fades, tapers, part lines and the occasional design for a kid with a ball game. Dez is the reason half of Augusta High comes in on a Friday.
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Marisol ReyesSol, here since 2018
Kids' cuts, first haircuts, and every hot-towel shave in the building. If your boy has never sat still for anybody, sit him in chair three.
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Cody PruittLicensed in 2024
Fades and beard work, quicker every month. The green chair came from a shop in El Dorado that closed, and it squeaks when you lean back. Cody calls that a feature.
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Forty minutes in chair three
A shave takes forty minutes, so there are none on Saturday. Forty minutes on a Saturday is two haircuts and one man in the doorway giving us a look.
Hot-towel shave, $32
Sol does every one. You lie back in chair three and it goes like this.
- 5 minHot towel, then pre-shave oil worked in by hand.
- 15 minLather from the mug, first pass with the grain.
- 15 minSecond towel, second pass, then the line-up.
- 5 minCold towel, aftershave balm, and you sit up.
On the shelf by the register
Only what we use on you in the chair. Want something we don't carry? We'll tell you where to buy it, and we won't even sulk.
- Water-based pomadeMedium hold, washes out$18
- Matte clayFor the textured crop$20
- Beard oil, 1 ozCedar, made in Emporia$16
- Shave soap and mugThe one Sol uses$24
- Boar bristle brushFits a back pocket$12
Your spot in line, from the couch
Four things that used to mean answering the phone with clippers in one hand and somebody's ear in the other. Here's each one on your phone.
4of 7
About 35 minutes, Tyler
We'll text when you're two away. Breakfast at the café on State is twelve minutes.
- 1Mike H.Next chair
- 2Jordan, plus 2 kidsSol
- 3Gene R.Ray
- 4Tyler B. (you)Anybody
Text me when I'm two away
Join the walk-in line from home, see your place in it, and get a text before your turn. Names show as first name and initial only.
Who do you want?
RayDezSolCodyFirst free
Tue 7Wed 8Thu 9Fri 10
Morning9:009:30Off8:30
Midday12:0012:30Off11:30
After work5:005:30Off5:30
SaturdayNo bookings. Saturday is the line.
Booking by barber with real open times for each chair, and Saturday shown honestly as walk-in only.
Free
Three cuts to a free one
Kids' cuts count on Dad's card.
- Sep 27Haircut, plus kids' cut x2+3
- Sep 06Skin fade+1
- Aug 16Haircut and shave+1
A punch card tied to your phone number, counting every cut in the family, whether you booked, walked in or paid cash.
One hot-towel shaveFor Dad, from the kids$32
Gift cards for a shave or a haircut, sent by text or printed at the register. Father's Day week, this is most of the phone calls.
Taped to the mirror, in Ray's handwriting
Six rules. They've been up there so long the tape is the colour of Ray's coffee.
Late for a booking
Ten minutes late and we'll still cut you. Fifteen, and your chair goes to the next walk-in. No fee. Just a walk-in who's very happy to see you.
Paying
Cash, card or tap. Tips go straight to your barber, and nobody minds if you skip it on a kid's cut. Dez minds a little.
Kids
Any age that can sit on the booster. Under five, a grown-up stays in the shop. First haircut is free and you keep a lock in an envelope.
Haircuts, beards and shaves
That's the whole menu. For colour, perms or long layered cuts, a good salon in town takes you, and we tell them who sent you.
Getting in
One step at the front door and a ramp around the side by the alley. Chair one lowers far enough for a wheelchair transfer.
Not happy with it
Come back within a week and whoever cut it fixes it, free. If Ray cut it, he'll fix it twice and blame the clippers.
On Seventh, a block west of State Street
Park on the street out front or in our lot across Seventh, by the alley. On Saturday our lot fills by eight, and the library lot on State is fine after nine.
Map drawn for this page, not to exact scale.Open a full map
Hours
| Sunday and Monday | Closed |
|---|---|
| Tuesday, Wednesday | 8 am to 6 pm |
| Thursday | 8 am to 7 pm |
| Friday | 8 am to 6 pm |
| Saturday, line only | 7:30 am to 2 pm |
(316) 555-0168. Whoever has clean hands picks up, so let it ring.