Haircuts at Buddy’s a family affair

  • Posted: Wednesday, February 6, 2013 2:12 p.m.
    UPDATED: Wednesday, February 6, 2013 2:18 p.m.
Cash Strickland and local barber Buddy Brant are surrounded by Cash’s family at the youngster’s first haircut: father Ken Strickland, sister Lauren Strickland, grandfather Norman Strickland Sr., mother Joanna Strickland, and grandmother Milner Strickland. His sister Maddie is not pictured.
Dan Brown/IndependentCash Strickland and local barber Buddy Brant are surrounded by Cash’s family at the youngster’s first haircut: father Ken Strickland, sister Lauren Strickland, grandfather Norman Strickland Sr., mother Joanna Strickland, and grandmother Milner Strickland. His sister Maddie is not pictured.

A boy’s first haircut is always a big deal. Momma stands apprehensively nearby as a stranger takes a pair of shears and lops off those beautiful locks of golden hair.
Sometimes the little boy screams bloody murder.
But sometimes it’s not such an ordeal, and in the case of 19-month old Kenneth Jennings “Cash” Strickland Jr., his first haircut came at the skilled hands of an old family friend.
Cash is the fourth generation of Stricklands to take a seat in local barber Buddy Brant’s barber chair. He came all the way from Mount Pleasant to carry on the tradition.
“Getting a haircut at Buddy's Barber Shop has become a tradition for the men in the Strickland family,” said Cash’s grandmother Milnor Strickland.
“It’s a family affair,” added his grandfather Norman Strickland, who arrived on Saturday with old photographs of other family members’ first haircuts. 
Armed with a lollipop and toys, Cash endured the “ordeal” just fine.