世界最高齡理髮師107歲仍全職工作

107歲的曼西內利（左）為客人理髮。圖／取自紐約時報

世界最高齡理髮師曼西內利（Anthony Mancinelli）現年107歲仍全職工作，每周在紐約市Fantastic Cuts髮廊工作五天，每天從中午工作到晚上8點，工作時多半站著，而且手很穩，自從2007年他96歲時被金氏世界紀錄認證為全球最高齡理髮師以來，每年生日都在雪片般湧入的賀壽訊息中度過，而他只是不斷地打破紀錄。

髮廊老闆珍·德內薩（Jane Dinezza）說：「他從沒請過病假。一些年輕設計師膝蓋痛、背痛，但他沒有。他剪起頭髮來比20歲的孩子快，他們坐在那邊滑手機休息時，他還在工作。」

被問到長壽秘訣，曼西內利只說，把這份自己滿意的工作做好，而且抽菸喝酒從不過度，但他並不勤於運動，家族成員也不是普遍長壽。

他所有牙齒都還在，而且不需天天服藥。他從不需要戴眼鏡，工作起來手仍然很穩。

曼西內利說：「我只有在別人叫我去看醫生時才看醫生，但就連醫生也不懂我幹嘛去看他。我告訴醫生，我沒病沒痛，什麼都沒有。」

他說，持續工作的原因之一，是讓自己在相伴70年的太太14年前過世後，仍保持忙碌與樂觀。他每天上班之前，都去看一下他太太的墓地。

曼西內利獨自生活，住處離髮廊不遠。他開車上班，自己煮飯，自己看電視（愛看拳擊），堅決凡事靠自己。他堅持自己修剪前院的灌木，不要人家幫忙。他81歲的兒子鮑伯說，「他甚至不讓人家幫他掃地板上客人的頭髮」，甚至自己為自己理髮。

德內薩說：「他自己採買，自己洗衣，自己付帳——簡直不可思議，整個心態正確。

大家都在問，『我要服什麼藥、吃哪些東西、擦什麼抗老霜？』他说，這些他一樣都沒做。

Anthony Mancinelli started working in barbershops when Warren Harding was in the White House. (Credit:Andrew Seng for The New York Times ) By Corey Kilgannon Oct. 7, 2018

NEW WINDSOR, N.Y. — Anthony Mancinelli shook out a barber towel and welcomed the next customer to his chair in Fantastic Cuts, a cheery hair salon in a nondescript strip mall, about an hour’s drive north of New York City.

“Hey, paisan — same as usual,” said John O’Rourke to Mr. Mancinelli, who began layering Mr. O’Rourke’s hair with his steady, snipping scissors.

“I don’t let anyone else touch my hair,” said Mr. O’Rourke, 56, of Cornwall, N.Y. “The guy’s been cutting hair for a century.”

Actually, Mr. O’Rourke was off by four years. Mr. Mancinelli is 107 and still working full time, cutting hair five days a week from noon to 8 p.m. He has been working in barbershops since he was 11. Warren Harding was in the White House.

In 2007, at a mere 96 years old, he was recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest working barber. Since then, the commendations have rolled in — from local civic groups, elected officials and barbering companies — all congratulating him: 100 years, 101, 102, and so on. Mr. Mancinelli just keeps outdating the awards.

The salon’s speakers were playing hip-hop on a recent afternoon. “He’s used to the windup record players,” Mr. O’Rourke teased.

Mr. Mancinelli has a trim build, a steady hand and a full head of hair, albeit snow white. He spends much of his day on his feet, in a pair of worn, cracked leather black shoes.

“People come in and they flip out when they find out how old he is,” said the shop’s owner, Jane Dinezza.

“He never calls in sick,” she said. “I have young people with knee and back problems, but he just keeps going. He can do more haircuts than a 20-year-old kid. They’re sitting there looking at their phones, texting or whatever, and he’s working.”

Asked — for the umpteenth time — about his longevity, Mr. Mancinelli offered only that he has always put in a satisfying day’s work and he has never smoked or drank heavily.

But no, longevity does not run in his family, and he was never big on exercise. Diet-wise, he said, “I eat thin spaghetti, so I don’t get fat.”

He has all his teeth and is on no daily medication. He has never needed glasses, and his hairstyling hands are still steady.

“I only go to the doctor because people tell me to, but even he can’t understand it,” he said. “I tell him I have no aches, no pains, no nothing. Nothing hurts me.”

One reason he continues to work, he said, is that it helps him stay busy and upbeat after the death of his wife of 70 years, Carmella, 14 years ago. He visits her grave daily before work.

Mr. Mancinelli lives alone, not far from the salon in New Windsor. He drives to work, cooks his own meals, watches television — he is a big pro-wrestling fan — and is adamantly self-sufficient. He still trims the bushes in his front yard with no help.

“He won’t even let anyone sweep up his hair clippings,” said his son Bob Mancinelli, 81, who noted that his father even gives haircuts to himself.