Found out barbers used to double as surgeons back in the day, wild huh

I was reading this old history book my uncle left at the shop and it said barbers were doing bloodletting and tooth pulling in the 1500s no joke. They called it a 'barber surgeon' because regular doctors thought it was beneath them so we got the messy jobs lol. Has anyone else ran into weird old trade facts like that in their research?

3 comments

3 Comments

rosek441mo ago

I used to think that was an old wives tale, but that book changed my mind.

piperr581mo ago

Oh man, my buddy actually got his hands on an old barber surgeon's kit at an estate sale once. He said it came in this beat up wooden box with velvet lining that was all stained up. There was this little brass thing for holding leeches inside it, which I thought was fiction until he showed me. He tried to clean one of the scalpels with just soap and water and it got all messed up. He told me the rust set in overnight, total disaster for a piece that old.

theawest1mo agoTop Commenter

Have you checked if that book covers the tools they used for bloodletting? I found out the hard way that keeping old straight razors sharp is totally different from modern blades, it's a whole skill on its own. If you're getting into that era, look up videos on how to care for carbon steel, it'll save you some ruined edges.