What is the symbol of a barber?

There was a time when a gentleman went to his barber for haircuts, shaves, manicures, blood-letting, teeth extraction, and the removal of wrens. The barber-surgeon’s dual role goes back as far as Egypt in 1600 B.C. Until 200 years ago, blood-letting was a remedy for anything that ailed you. Because the bleeding of patients was a regular service of the barber-surgeon, it was appropriate, at that time, for a barber to advertise his trade with a white sign (the symbol of a bandage), splattered with touches of red. By the mid-18^th century, barbers and surgeons of England had been divided into separate professions, and the barber’s sign had become a red-and-white striped pole, from which hung a basin. At one time, patients held onto the pole as they were bled into the bowl.