Senior spotlight: Christopher the barber

By Hugo M.

Like many seniors his age, Christopher C. is currently working to achieve his aspiration: becoming a barber.

Chris said, “I want to become a barber to make a living off of it, and because I have friends who are barbers who have also inspired me to become one.”

For instance, currently, Chris is working toward his goal by advertising around the school, putting up multiple flyers, and he already has had several clients.

“I’ve had a bunch of clients. I’ve probably had like about 20?, but, um, but it’s a good experience like I get to talk to my client. How he’s doing, and sometimes I talk to them and I ask them how they’re doing mentally and stuff, and just have a conversation with them as I’m cutting hair,” he said.

With these experiences, Chris has been able to learn what hair styles he’s good at and what he still needs to improve on.

For example, Chris mentioned that, “They either get tapers or fades and, yeah, that’s pretty much what I mostly focus on, on trying to improve on the blends, and improve on the fade motion.”

He also said that the more difficult and longer the process, the more he charges as it takes time.

“Last time I cut someone’s hair I did a fade and I did a lineup on their beard, and so that one was $25 for that one so it was including the haircut and the beard,” he explained.

He shared how the money he uses either goes to buying new supplies or his personal needs, and that is  the reason he wants to refine his skills to get more recognition and be able to afford a shop in the future.

Some of his clients shared their experience with Chris’s haircutting.

Donaldo O., a fellow senior and good friend of Chris, shared how “It’s pretty lengthy, but it’s really good at the end, it comes out really nice.”

He also mentioned how the cut (called a mid-taper) was about $20, and although the process was a bit ample, the results were worth it.

With this experience in mind, Chris is currently working to use his skills to get a high-paying job in the future.

He mentions that once he graduates high school, he plans on going to a barber school to get a barber’s certificate, although he would study in school for at least 1 to 2 years.

On top of that, he shared that once he gets the experience and money, he will save to open up his own barber shop in the future.

“I would first work in the shop for someone else to get the experience and to get the money to find a shop that I could buy and then, once I’m ready to buy a shop, I’ll buy a shop and I’ll own it and I could still be cutting hair,” he said.

He said that once he gets the shop, he would hire other barbers and be able to manage his shop while doing what he loves.

Finally, he shared that, once he gets the experience and gets to the position he wants to be, he “will achieve as a person because I’m going to be proud of myself for getting to the place where I am.”