The answer is that he often doubled as the tribe's spiritual healer or shaman. In a lot of early cultures, cutting hair and grooming were tied to ritual and healing.
That's different from leading trade caravans, being exempt from tribute, or keeping official records, none of which were the actual role early barbers held. The barber-healer connection runs deep, and it's part of why grooming carried real weight in these societies rather than being purely practical work.
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