Barber origins.

Looking into the origins of the barber to get a better understanding of my subject matter and to see if it provokes any ideas or concepts;

A barber (from the Latin barba, "beard") is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave males' hair. A barber's place of work is known as a "barber shop" or a "barber's".

In previous times, barbers also performed surgery and dentistry. Today, with the development of safety razors and the decreasing prevalence of beards, in American and Commonwealth cultures most barbers specialize in cutting men's hair. Many barbers may still deal with facial hair if requested.

Origins of the barber pole.

Blood Letting.

The patient would be cut, and blood drained out in an effort to drain out the sickness from the body. We know today that this will make things worse and not better, but for centuries if not millenia the superstition held sway. People that were given the task of performing this important service were called barber surgeons. So a patient would sit in the chair and reach out their arm to grab a pole, flexing to bring the veins out. The barber would wrap the patient's arm tightly, cut the flesh and drain out the proper amount of blood. Then the wound would be bound and the barber's services would be over. Bloodletters, hair cutters and even dentists in many places.

The barber would hang out the strips on the pole, making them visible and ready to hand. This became accepted as a symbol of the bloodletting, as the white and red would wrap around the pole. 

This has given me some interesting ideas for designs that can be found inside the barber shop, for instance i may ask a class mate that specilises in illustration to sketch up some designs representing this act.