Designed by Lily Chen and Mary Wolters, Design Editor and Staff Reporter

Freshmen start barbershop nonprofit, see success

By Vanessa Chen, Staff Reporter

For many students, Friday afternoons signal the end of the work week and the start of the weekend. However, for freshmen Rodger Cole, Jaiden Cox and Jonah Sokolove, Friday afternoons consist of cutting hair in Sokolove’s house for their newly opened nonprofit, J&R Barbershop.

The freshmen officially opened the shop in December 2023, but business did not pick up until February, when they increased the shop’s social media presence. They now have multiple customers a week.

“I kind of wanted to become a barber back in eighth grade. I’ve always been known as the entrepreneur back in middle school,” Sokolove said. “All the other (businesses) kind of failed, but I think this one is the one that’s going to stick because of this amazing team.”

Currently, J&R Barbershop distributes business cards around the community and posts on its Instagram, @jandr_barbershop. Prospective customers can message the shop to schedule an appointment, typically on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays. When the freshmen do not have customers, they said that they are busy honing their skills.

“We practice on each other a lot. We also watch YouTube videos to learn what type of equipment we need, and then we deck out the whole shop,” Cole said.

Cox said that cutting hair provides joy to both the barber and client.

“I think it’s cool how you can take someone’s hair from looking like how it is and transform it into something better. It’s like a canvas: You can create what you want,” Cox said. “It’s fun meeting new people, and I think that when you have a good haircut, it changes your personality. It makes you more confident.”

Currently, the barbershop is a nonprofit. The freshmen plan to wait until they graduate high school before obtaining their official barber licenses and charging for their services. For now, they continue to promote the shop and hope to expand further in the future.

“We’re going to try to expand as much as we can,” Sokolove said. “Especially throughout our high school years, we’re just trying to get our name out, going to different barbershops and trying to see if we can get an apprenticeship there. That way when we graduate high school, we can make it an official business.”

Juniors open hair cutting business

By Madeline Pulliam, Staff Reporter

From pencils and paper to scissors and clippers, juniors and self-taught barbers Rish Debroy and Ayan Kumar have been running a new hair-cuting business: KD Clipz.

Debroy and Kumar started the business in February, and it has been growing ever since. They advertise the business through its Instagram page @kdclipzzz, and customers can message the account to book an appointment. Prices are either $10 or $12 depending on the cut.

“I was experimenting with hair cutting, and I thought it was fun. I always wanted to save money on my own haircuts, so I thought of a way to be convenient with it,” Kumar said. “I watched multiple YouTube videos to verify I was cutting hair correctly. People believed I was credible because my mom used to cut my hair, so I always kind of knew how to cut hair.”

A mutual friend of the juniors inspired them. Debroy and Kumar continued cutting their own hair to sharpen their skills and then moved onto trimming other people’s hair.

“Some people saw my haircut, and they were like, ‘Oh can you try my hair?’ I also knew Ayan cut hair and was already good at it, so then we joined forces,” Debroy said.

So far, they have completed eight haircuts in Debroy’s basement. The room has mirrors, chairs and other necessary tools. While Kumar does all of the cuts that need scissors, Debroy uses clippers, which he said allow him to serve a wider variety of students who want different haircuts. Although they are confident in cutting short hair, they are more hesitant about longer hairstyles.

As they have gained more experience, Debroy and Kumar said they have increased their confidence and client base. They plan to continue posting on Instagram and see who reaches out.

“The first haircut was like an experiment, and we were happy our client gave us a chance to try it out,” Debroy said. “We knew once we had more experience, he would come back as well.”

Lily Chen can be reached at [email protected].

Vanessa Chen can be reached at [email protected].

Madeline Pulliam can be reached at [email protected].

Mary Wolters can be reached at [email protected].