In school, Frank Cabral Jr. learned a couple of topics are taboo for barbers to discuss.

For 48 years, he’s ignored that advice.

“The first day in barber school I went to class, and this is what they told us: ‘You will not talk politics or religion at your barbershop. You will not do that,’” Cabral said, raised his hands in the air and laughed. “Well, sorry. That’s what we do here.”

In 1990, Cabral took over the barbershop at Love Lea Acres in Rochester after his father passed away. Cabral Sr. opened the business in the 1950s on the first floor of the family home. Cabral grew up there helping his father.

Clients come from Wareham, Buzzards Bay, Lakeville, Dartmouth, and even Rhode Island to the one room shop. For some, it’s the hours Cabral keeps. The shop is open until 9 p.m. on most days. Those are the hours his father kept; Cabral Sr. would open after a day’s work at Burr Brothers Boats in Marion.

Most likely, they come for the conversation.

“We have a lot of fun here,” he said. “Everybody is basically blue collar, lunch box carrying working people.”

On a September afternoon, a Catholic priest, a former salesman, and a retired veteran are in the shop, which smells of Pinaud-Clubman aftershave, a barbershop staple since 1810.

The talk is wide-ranging, peppered with laughs, and not much is off-topic.

“That’s what we do here. We talk politics from Town Hall, to state, federal and everything else. It’s hard not to in a small shop like this,” Cabral said. “Not too much religion though.”

“Once a month father brings in a little religion,” the former salesman said from the barber’s chair.

One time, a regular customer (a good guy but a bit rough around edges Cabral says) walked in and told an off-color joke.  After the punch line he asked what it was the priest did for a living.

“When he found out you should have seen his face. He was looking to hide under a chair, he had nowhere to go!” Cabral said.

Now, when the father is in, Cabral makes a silent sign of the cross to alert clients.

Before taking over the shop, Cabral worked at a barbershop in Falmouth. Outside of a seven-year Navy stint, he’s been cutting hair since high school.

“A lot of retired vets come here, and some military guys too, everybody that comes in, they are pro-American,” Cabral said.

He wasted no time in leaving the Navy to get back to work. “I got out of the Navy on a Friday and I started working in Falmouth, at a barbershop, on that Monday,” he said. “So I didn’t have much of a vacation.”

As a veteran, Cabral said he helps out others who served as much as he can. Recently, he volunteered at a car show in Bristol, R.I. that raised money for a veteran’s facility. At Thanksgiving he travels to veteran’s hospitals to offer free haircuts.

Inside the shop can sometimes feel less like a place to get a haircut and more like a clubhouse.

“Many nights in here, two guys who haven’t seen each other since high school will meet up accidently, and it’s like a reunion,” he said.

After so many years, Cabral said he couldn’t have picked a better career. “I can honestly say not one day have I ever said I hated the job. I get up in the morning, take a shower, brush my teeth and then cut hair. It’s great.”

Frank’s Barbershop is located at 459 New Bedford Road. The shop is open Tuesday through Friday from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, call 508-763-5559.