Your ex-barber sounds a lot like a few people I've come to know in my travels; self-reliant and unabashed with personal opinions. It is not easy for many people to tolerate such characters. Personally I find them a bit more interesting than run-of-the-mill personalities😎

I had a Greek barber in N.Y. who recited philosophy and poems he wrote while cutting hair- as long as he wasn't engaged in an argument with a fellow Greek in the shop.