People can be a bit leery of the concept of a medical spa. Botox, hair dye, and colon hydrotherapy, oh my! It seems a little daffy, existing in that grey area between vanity and medicine. Besides, when in history have we combined the salon with surgery?
Well.
Today’s Moment of Science… let me tell you where those scissors have been.
The field of keeping humans alive wasn’t always looked at with the degree of respect it has today. We were still working with humours and sometimes consulting astrological charts for medical decisions until the mid-1800s. But even when doctoring was still a bit of a clusterfuck, they studied anatomy, physiology, and perhaps knew a thing or two about diseases.
They also considered themselves above surgery. Hold onto your hats for this fucking revelation, but doctors have long had a smidge of an elitism thing. Let someone else perform the bloody, messy surgeries, the physician has an urgent call to treat someone’s hysteria with cocaine.
The surgeon’s reputation, on the other hand? The surgeon was a mechanic for your rump. They needed manual dexterity and knowledge in how to handle the body, but they were certainly not someone you look to for a diagnosis. Someone with steady hands who happens to already own a set of cut-humans-open tools was a perfect fit.
Behold, the barber surgeon.
The profession of the barber surgeon is documented to have lasted for over eight centuries. The earliest known barber surgeons served monastic orders who needed to maintain their tonsures (the hairstyle that looks like a permanent halo) around 1,000CE. Everywhere the monks went, another barber needed to be trained to help maintain that stunning hairstyle.
Priests had previously performed basic medical procedures, but the church said “God called, no more playing doctor in the monastery.” So along with maintaining Godly hair, barbers’ tasks grew to include basic surgeries like bloodletting, tooth pulling, and even the occasional embalming. Over time their list of services grew to include wound treatment, amputations, lancing infections, setting broken bones, tonsillectomies, and enemas.
I’m not recommending it, but in light of this information? ‘Colon hydrotherapy at the spa’ seems less cuckoo and more a tale as old as buttholes and barbers.
They also performed trepanation, a fancy pants word for “cutting a goddamn hole in your skull.” Because maybe someone had a headache or a demon, and… duh.
Mistakes were made. But given that the same mistakes were being made by everyone at the time, the guy who maintained your luscious locks was often no worse than the guy who went to medical school.
Ambroise Paré, a French barber surgeon practicing around this time, is considered by some to be the father of modern surgery. In addition to being a highly skilled obstetrician, he had breakthroughs in bullet removal and wound management on the battlefield. No word on if he gave a decent straight razor shave though.
In 1540 in England, the Barber-Surgeon Company was formed, merging groups of each profession together. The Barber Surgeon Guild was formed in 1689 with a goal to ensure quality and consistency from their professionals, formalizing and expanding training.
So what happened to the barber surgeons? Surgeons.
It was a slow process that started in 1745 when surgeons formally left the guild. It took until the early 1800s for full realization as formalized education- and eventually medical school- became the standard training for surgeons.
We still have one well known relic from the era: the barber pole. When patients went in for bloodletting, they were given a pole to grip onto to help make their veins look nice and juicy for the surgeon. After, they would tie the bloody bandages around this pole, posting it outside of the office to show that they were a full service barber, open for business. Leeches, bloodletting, enemas and all.
This has been your daily Moment of Science, asking you to remember how much you missed your stylist or barber this year, and tip them handsomely.
Want tales of medical fuckery, adorable animals, and nuclear boners in your inbox daily? For all that and more exclusive perks, head to patreon.com/scibabe
Join the discussion!