Mokena Barber Cuts Hair With Fire: VIDEO

Paper beats rock, scissors beat paper and, for Mokena, IL, barber Tony Dina, Jr., sometimes fire beats scissors.

Dina, the second generation to run in downtown Mokena, is still familiar with how to do a "singe haircut." That's how it sounds: You burn the hair off instead of cutting it.

Although the singe haircut leaves a sharper look—it cauterizes the tips of the hair rather than leaving tips cut at jagged angles—Dina said he's only done about three in the last three years.

For starters, people have to know the option exists. Two of the recent singe recipients were men old enough to remember that barber shops used to burn.

The third was a woman, a hairdresser who knew about the technique and, after looking at the memorabilia-laden, 64-year-old shop, figured the barber might be old-school enough to know how to singe.

Dina, a competitive bodybuilder in the over-70 category, was. Dina's Barber Shop has been a part of Mokena since 1948, when Tony Dina, Sr., got tired of taking the train to Chicago, more than 30 miles away, every day. Tony Dina, Jr., still runs the barber shop to this day. Watch the attached video of his skills at work.

For more on Patch editors getting their hair cut (seriously), donate to the New Lenox and Frankfort editors' St. Baldrick's Day fundraisers.