Blog

Everyone’s had a first date. We panic immediately after the date and time have been agreed upon. What are we going to wear? We rush to the mirror and realize that our hair needs a trim- we check our contacts and scroll down to the only barber we know is available this late in advance. Pulling up to the appointment, we think about the date. What are we going to wear? Our minds flash to the pantry and try to recall whether we have mints and gum. Should we look casual or come decked out- we begin planning the minute...

Our moms always tell us, “watch your words.” We ignore her after beating ourselves up when we lose that qualifying game during the last 10 seconds. We push them into the back of our mind when we are back having that conversation with that one teacher that has told us we’ll amount to nothing: our dreams aren’t for someone like us. We’ve stuffed them away as we watch the face of our first customer drop after seeing their new haircut. But, as we get older, we hear people in positions we want to be in, talk about...

Bar•ber•hood 

/ˈbärBər. ho͝od/

noun

1. an association, society, and community of people linked by a common interest; barbering. 

We look down, head bowed in shame revealing a crooked line-up and a chunk of hair missing from our crown. We’ve butchered our role as the ultimate home barber extraordinaire. Moms is yelling and pops has called his friend up the street to come document the incident. We’re embarrassed; we can’t call our friends, we want to keep it as quiet as possible. Someone’s booked an appointment for the next day....

We learn about friendship early; one our first day at a new school, when we go out to play hoop at the park- sometimes when we make our bi-monthy trip to the barbershop. Friendship is something that is intrinsic to how we position ourselves in our lives: Our parents were right when they stressed the importance of the company we kept in our lives. As barbers, we cultivate friendships with clients and fellow barbers- even with clients' parents and those close to our clients. Many places call this interlocking of close connection networking: We prefer to recognize this...

“Oh boy lookin clean!”

“I see you young blood!”

We’ve all been there: eyebrows lifted, head tilted slightly, pressing our lips together trying not to expose a full grin; we look good. We walk out the shop like we’ve never seen the world before; we’re ready to conquer it. There is nothing, nor anybody that could tell us that we aren’t the King of the Hill. Our hair is fly: we look in every car window to catch the shine reflecting off sides from the sun; we might as well be dipped in gold. But the line along...