Barber remembers a different Matawan At 84, Ted Daloia has no intention of turning in his shears By Alison Granito Staff Writer FARRAH MAFFAI Matawan barber Ted Daloia, 84, takes care of longtime customer Michael Mastro. MATAWAN — Ted Daloia remembers a different Matawan. Daloia, who has spent nearly the past 50 years cutting hair and swapping stories with his customers in Teddy’s Barber Shop, 54 Main St., has called Matawan home since he was born 84 years ago. "I grew up in Matawan, and I learned the business in Matawan," said Daloia. Daloia has fond recollections of how he got his start working in a barbershop on Main Street at about 13 years old. Farrah Maffai Ted Daloia, whose Main Street barber shop is set to celebrate its 50th anniversary in September, cuts the hair of 13-year-old Nelson Jecas, Laurence Harbor, on Sunday. "My grandmother dragged me down there by the ear and said, ‘Give him a job because I don’t want him hanging out on the street,’ " recalled Daloia. "I tried to quit a couple of times, but she always chased me back," he added. Eventually Daloia grew to like the business and decided to train as a barber, spending some time in a Keyport shop when some of the regulars in the shop where he had apprenticed on Main Street thought he was too young to cut their hair. The training he received and the traditions he learned working around the Bayshore as a young apprentice shape the way Daloia does things even today. "I learned to give halfway decent haircuts, and that is what I still give today," said Daloia, noting that he does not go in for any of the "fancy stuff" or longer hair styles popular with younger generations. Nephew Jim Daloia, of Shamong Township in Burlington County, recalled how in his day, going to Matawan High School in the age of long hair in the 1960s, if you went for a haircut at Teddy’s, you would be in for it in school the next day. "You knew that if you went to Teddy’s, you were getting a short haircut, something really traditional," said the nephew. According to Daloia, that period of time is when he started to see a real difference from his days as a young man. "In my time, if you had a date with a girl, you went to the barber and got your hair cut and combed with tonic so you would look neat," he said. Daloia noted that during the good old days, his shop, which is set to officially turn 50 this September, was a gathering place for the men of the community. "Years ago they would come in here; before and after they got a haircut they would hang around and tell jokes and talk sports," Ted recalled, noting that type of customer was a rarity today. "It was part of the experience, and people loved to wait here, but today people don’t want to wait," he said. "Guys used to take about horse racing, sports, politics, you name it. Today all they talk about is taxes." Back in the days when the shop was a gathering place, Daloia used to set up a bar with whiskey and soda for his customers’ enjoyment during the holidays. "These days you would probably get arrested for something like that," he said. "It was just a different world then. Matawan was a small community where everyone know everybody else’s name." Despite the changes in the community and the changes in how men wear their hair, Teddy’s Barber Shop has its fair share of regulars who are loyal to the traditional haircuts they get week after week. "I have one guys who has been coming to me every two weeks for 55 years to get the same haircut," said Ted. "A lot of the customers have been going to me for years and don’t want to go anywhere else," Daloia said, noting that he has no intentions of retiring any time soon. "As long as I can see straight and my hands are steady, I’ll keep doing what I do," he said.