One of Dean the Barber’s final customers was 1RCHA CO LCol Joe O’Donnell, who has sat in his barber’s chair since he was a child. Later, when he was a teenager, LCol O’Donnell received a mohawk haircut from the Base barber after losing a basketball game of 21. After his final cut, Dean the Barber had to take down his money collection he pinned to two sections of his barbershop walls. He used to give out Shilo Barber Shop “good for one haircut” coupons, which he found while cleaning up his office and work space. Customers will not only miss Dean the Barber, but also his dog Roxy, who hung out near his barber’s chair. Dean the Barber was able to reopen his business during the COVID-19 pandemic when staff and customers wore makes, like MWO (Ret’d) Brad Laroque. Photos Jules Xavier/Shilo Stag

Jules Xavier
Shilo Stag  

Dean Grywacheski has been at the previously named Shilo Barber Shop since 1989 — as of Oct. 15 he’s no longer providing military haircuts from his barber’s chair.
One of his final customers at the CANEX venue was 1RCHA CO LCol Joe O’Donnell, who has spent plenty of time having Dean the Barber cut his hair as a child, teenager and now a CAF member.
“I remember when I was 14 or 15, and lost a game of 21,” recalled LCol O’Donnell as he waited for his turn in the barber’s chair on a late Saturday afternoon. “I was supposed to get a Chicago Bulls [crest] cut in the back of my hair, but Dean said he couldn’t do it. So, he gave me a mohawk cut instead.”
“Do you remember that cut,” asked LCol O’Donnell, who has been searching his home for the photos taken afterwards, but after a number of postings the past decade could not locate them.
“I’m trying to remember that day,” offered Grywacheski, as he trimmed the hair of another teenager.
As of Oct. 17, he will be retired, his scissors and clippers boxed up after he cleaned his work space. The business is up for sale. In his final week on the job, he had plenty of his regular customers stop in for a final haircut. Even with the regulation changes regarding military haircuts, he said his older clientele remained loyal and asked for the “regular cut” they have received since arriving on the Base.
Even a former 2PPCLI CO offered his congratulations after learning his barber at CFB Shilo was retiring.
“I am very fond of Dean and greatly appreciate his long-standing service to CFB Shilo, its solders and its families,” said BGen Bob Ritchie, currently the COS to the VCDS after returning to Canada this summer from his post at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
“We have been really lucky to have him. Let him know I really appreciate him and wish him continued health and happiness going forward.”
The amiable barber does not mind the moniker which goes with his name for obvious reasons.
“Really, I am not sure that most people know what my last name is,” Grywacheski told former Stag reporter Jillian Driessen in a July 2014 interview marking the 25th anniversary of his barbershop. “People just know me as Dean the Barber. That’s what I sign on everything around here!”
After 33 years of cutting hair on the Base, Grywacheski doesn’t seem to mind.
“I wave to everyone. Sometimes my son asks me if I know everyone in Shilo. I tell him that’s just what happens when you own a business in a small town.”
Grywacheski took ownership of the Shilo Barber Shop — now called Shilo Beauty and Barber Shop — in 2008 after long-time owner Matt Yarchuk retired after nearly 50 years in the business.
A younger Gryacheski came to CFB Shilo after completing his barber course at Red River College.
“I was coming to the end of my course and Matt phoned me. He had heard about me from a barber that worked for him that was from my hometown, Ste Rose du Lac,” recalled Grywacheski. “I had done my apprenticeship at Brandon Shoppers Mall and I told him I was interested in coming back to the area.
“He told me to come out on a weekend and take a look. I thought about it this way: It would take me more than a year to build a clientele in a regular salon. Here, the clientele comes to you. It was the right choice at the time.”
A 21-year-old “Dean the Barber” found himself surrounded by seasoned barbers at CFB Shilo — an experience which has served him well throughout his career.
After 19 years, Grywacheski took the shop over. Although he is younger than the previous owner, the shop retains its vintage charm. A checkered floor and quality barber chairs complete with foot-rests take patrons back in time.
The business plan has also remained the same: Quality service as often as humanly possible.
“It has always been my goal and one of my former employer to build loyalty. We always try to be here as often as we can,” offered Grywacheski.
“Matt always believed we should give as much service as we could. I’ve tried to keep that going and to give quality work. We try and give everyone a quality haircut.”
The shop’s hours were designed to offer the most convenient service to military members, who are the bulk of the small business’ clientele.
“Our number one clients are military members. I respect that. They are the ones that are back to us every couple weeks,” he acknowledged.
The shop has branched out to offer more services to women in recent years, thus the name change to reflect this. He made a point of hiring more hairdressers and has, in turn, brought more female clients to his aged barber chairs.
“We’ve started servicing more women. Most all my staff are hairdressers. I teach them the barber skills, but they have the skills with scissors.”
The atmosphere is light at the shop. Grywacheski pointed out he does not want his staff to feel like they are at work.
His staff paid homage to his catch phrase “just another day at the zoo” by plastering the walls of the shop with zoo animals and jungle vines when the venue celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2014.
With many years in Shilo, Grywacheski has seen many people come, go, and return to the Base. Like LCol O’Donnell. He has had the pleasure of seeing military members and their families grow in the last quarter century.
Like Sgt Marcus Trowbridge of the Saskatchewan Highway Patrol, who grew up as an Army brat in Wawanesa, but calls Swift Current home now. His father served in the artillery for decades, and is now a Shilo firefighter. He grandfather also had a long artillery career in the CAF, and reached CWO and served as 1RCHA’s RSM.
“I’ve been getting my haircut here for the past 26 years,” said Trowbridge as Dean the Barber brushed off hair following a last cut.
Many people find themselves in the antiquated barber chairs at many different stages in life.
“I cut a guy’s hair the other day. I cut his hair when he had to sit on a stool in the chair and now he’s a major,” recalled Grywacheski.
Be they recruits or colonels, a strong majority of military members at CFB Shilo leave their hair on the floor of the Shilo Beauty and Barber Shop.
His longevity on this Base was simple, according to Grywacheski.
”The main reason I stay here is the people. I always learn from the people here. When I first got here, the Germans were here. I learned a lot in those years.”
In his chair, Dean the Barber has heard from many people with reservations about CFB Shilo.
“I always tell people to give it a year here. They will grow to like it,” he said. “If you’re involved in the community or keeping yourself busy, you will see this place is a gem.”
At the quarter century mark, Grywacheski was settled in for the long run. His father at the time was rounding on his 55th year as a barber in Ste Rose du Lac.
The Shilo Barber Shop has been open for business for more than 50 years and as far as Grywacheski is concerned, will continue to be the barbershop of choice for CFB Shilo and its hinterland for many years to come under new management.
“I came when I was 21. I thought I would stay just a couple years. It feels good to have loyal customers. I know I will never be a rich guy, but I’m a happy guy. This [job] pays my bills, feeds my family, and gives me a little spending money. I couldn’t ask for more.”
Besides packing up his barber’s tools, Grywacheski also took down his money walls, where soldiers and others supplied him with paper money from around the world where the CAF deployed military members.
One of his more interesting bills is one from Iraq featuring the late dictator Saddam Hussein, who was hanged on Dec. 30, 2006 at the joint Iraqi-American military base Camp Justice after being convicted of crimes against humanity.