Subjective Morality

Barbers had a few more jobs than cutting your hair in the Middle Ages, during the time of the plague: they also served as de facto surgeons because of their skills with a razor. Bloodletting was a popular practice back then and people actually believed it worked. The barber would slit the person’s arm and let the blood flow into a basin while the person held onto a stick, to dilate the veins.

People couldn’t read back then, so businesses used signs that showed what they did; a barbershop displayed a sign of a hand with blood running down the arm in a spiral. Hence the modern version: a white and red spiral running down a pole.

Nifty, huh?