Legendary 90-year-old Cape Cod barber retiring but not due to his age

FALMOUTH, Mass. — Cape Cod is home to world-class beaches, but it’s also home to a legendary barber.

Andy Dufresne said it’s finally time to retire. But it’s not because of his age.

“This is the best looking picture. That’s me, I think I was 26 years old there,” he said, showing us a photo of himself.

Dufresne is now 90 years old and has been cutting hair for a long time.

“When I first started I got the sign somewhere, I think it was 25 cents for a shave and 50 cents for a haircut,” he said while sitting in his nearly empty Falmouth barbershop.

But after opening his barbershop nearly 60 years ago, Andy is closing it. He said the COVID-19 restrictions were just too much to deal with.

“After the number of years I’ve been standing behind a barber chair since 1944, I’ll let you do the math, I told myself I don’t need this type of aggravation,” he said.

Dufresne said he’s had a wonderful career and has no regrets. He dropped out of high school at 16 to join the U.S. Navy. After two tours in Korea he returned home and started cutting hair.

“I don’t want to pat my own back, but I was actually a pretty good barber when I got out of the Navy,” he commented.

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As Dufresne packs-up his shop, all that’s left now are the marks where his chairs used to be and the memories. He points to the few remaining black and white pictures remembering some of the barbers that once worked for him.

“This is Jim Cutter. He’s dead. And this one, he’s dead. He was from the Vineyard,” Dufresne said while reminiscing.

A lot of time may have passed, but one thing has stayed the same. Andy never had a lease. He’s gone month to month for 57 years.

“I’m going to give you a number. $238.50 was my rent here to this day,” he said.

Andy was once a competitive handgun shooter and credits his success and longevity to a sharp eye and steady hands.

“Nobody ever beat me cutting the flat top. To this day, nobody in this town has,” he said.

The iconic Andy Dufresne is going out on top as he calls it a career. He plans to take the summer off, since he hasn’t taken a vacation in 40 years. But he doesn’t want to fully retire. He said he’ll go to customers’ homes to cut their hair.

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