<P> In Forest Grove, Oregon, the "World's Tallest Barber Shop Pole" measures 72 feet (22 m). </P> <P> The consistent use of this symbol for advertising was analogous to an apothecary's show globe, a tobacconist's cigar store Indian and a pawn broker's three gold balls . </P> <P> The red and white pole outside barber shops references a time when barbers were expected to perform bloodletting and other medical procedures to heal the sick; red may have represented blood and white may have been bandages . Possibly as early as the later Roman Empire, and certainly continuing through the Renaissance into Industrialization (maybe even until the 1700s in some places) a "barber - surgeon" also performed tooth extraction, cupping, leeching, bloodletting, enemas, amputations, etc . However, today's barber poles represent little more than being a barber shop that cuts hair and does shaves . Barber poles have actually become a topic of controversy in the hairstyling business . In some states, such as Michigan in March 2012, legislation has emerged proposing that barber poles should only be permitted outside barbershops, but not traditional beauty salons . Barbers and cosmetologists have engaged in several legal battles claiming the right to use the barber pole symbol to indicate to potential customers that the business offers haircutting services . Barbers claim that they are entitled to exclusive rights to use the barber pole because of the tradition tied to the craft, whereas cosmetologists think that they are equally capable of cutting men's hair (though many cosmetologists are not permitted to use razors, depending on their state's laws). </P> <P> In South Korea, barber's poles are used both for actual barbershops and for brothels . Brothels disguised as barbershops, referred to as 이발소 (ibalso) or 미용실 (miyongsil), are more likely to use two poles next to each other, often spinning in opposite directions, though the use of a single pole for the same reason is also quite common . Actual barbershops, or 미용실 (miyongsil), are more likely to be hair salons; to avoid confusion, they will usually use a pole that shows a picture of a woman with flowing hair on it with the words hair salon written on the pole . </P>

What is the significance of the barbershop pole