Hay River (Oct 16/06) - The sign outside reads "Henry's Barbershop." Inside, the sign reads "Sherryl's Barbershop" in great big letters. There is a tiny "& Henry" added at the bottom.

Sherryl White shares a laugh with regular customer Bob Vossler as she trims his hair. - Erika Sherk/NNSL photo

It was a joke Sherryl White played on her dad when he went away for a few months, back when they worked together. She changed all the signs from his name to hers.

"He thought it was pretty funny," she said, smiling.

A year ago White took over from her father as a full-time barber in the tiny shop. Now the sign inside rings true.

It was never her plan to follow in her father's footsteps, she said. "I just fell into it."

She had originally studied food and beverage management but upon discovering she was pregnant, decided to go the barbering route instead.

"The hours are much more regular," she said.

She attended Marvel College in Red Deer for 10 months to learn the tricks of the hairstyling trade.

"We learned everything there," she said, "braids, perms, up-dos..."

One might think that becoming a barber for men might be a bit stifling after studying the elaborate possibilities of women's long locks.

White said that's not the case at all.

"I like barbering better than hairstyling," she said. "It's what I know."

After graduating from Marvel in 2003 she returned to Hay River to work alongside her father. Five months later Henry left for two months, leaving White, freshly graduated, to run the place all by herself.

The first three days were tough, she said, but she soon grew to like it.

"It was neat," she said, "I picked up a lot really fast, getting thrown in like that." One of her favourite parts of the job, she said, is doing neck shaves. Using warm shaving cream and a straight razor, they're a specialty of the shop. Not many barbers do them, she said.

You have to be well trained, said White.

"Not many people would let you take a straight razor to their neck otherwise," she said, laughing.

Her four-year-old daughter Taylor is in the shop often, washing her Barbies' hair in the sink and chattering to customers.

"She loves it here," said White, adding the regulars enjoy her as well.

"One old guy came in," remembered White, "and he wasn't quite cranky, but he was being very quiet and didn't want to talk."

"Taylor came over and brushed the hair off his cape with a little brush. And then she danced a jig," said White, "he just started laughing."

"People ask if she's going to be a barber when she grows up and she says 'yep!,'" laughed White.

The regulars are what keep White going as well, she said. "We're always joking, always laughing and carrying on." White wants to go back to school one day, but for now will stick with the barbering business "for at least a few more years."