17 Things I Learned at Barber School

I just graduated from Martin’s Barber School in Huntingdon, PA. The experiences and stories of the past year could probably fill a book. I’ll start with a blog post. Almost all of these are universal lessons. They apply to most things we do in life—jobs, hobbies, relationships, sports, etc.

1. You get out what you put in. Some students (just like some employees) dial it in. They show up—some of the time. But they avoid difficult tasks like flat tops and women’s hair cutting/styling. They hang out in the back and only come out to do a couple cuts a day. They are only hurting themselves. They graduate from school not having polished their skills. They missed the benefits of learning new things with a teacher at hand to walk them through. They get a diploma but miss the opportunity to learn real-world skills. This ultimately hinders their chances to make as much money as they could with higher level skills. The opposite should be our goal. Try everything. Make mistakes. Learn. Try again. Improve. Get as much input and feedback and practice as possible to get better.
2. Most people are good people. It was valuable to get out of my comfort zone and make new acquaintances. I met tons of solid people this year both in the chair and behind the chairs.
   • My classmates had extremely varied backgrounds (from prison guards to ex-cons, from retired teachers to current high school students). All were there for different reasons. Most are heading off in different directions after school. I made some new friends.
   • The people in the barber chair had even more diversity. Farmers, WW II vets, cops, fugitives (an arrest went down during school), lawyers, judges, factory workers, doctors, nurses, infants, college students, men, women, boys and girls. They all come to get cleaned up and they all have a story. Some of those stories are fascinating.
3. Overcoming fears takes persistence. Using a straight razor on clients really freaked me out for the first couple months. I mean to the point that I would break into a sweat and be lightheaded midway through performing a shave on someone. I had to take deep breaths and get ahold of myself before moving on. And, yes I did cut some people. Ask the police chief or the pediatrician in Huntingdon. Or a handful of others that I nicked early on. Fortunately everyone was very understanding. Over time I gained competence and confidence and eventually overcame the fear(almost completely).
4. Speaking of confidence…I was reminded that confidence grows. Week by week, month by month as I got more and more practice doing various kinds of haircuts, beard trims and styles I gained a level of confidence that lets me jump into any haircut you throw at me. It may not come out perfectly the first time, but it’ll look good and I’m not daunted by the vastness of the transformation. In fact, the bigger the transformation the more rewarding the feeling at the end.
5. We’re never too old (or young) to learn new skills. Two very talented people that came through barber school are at opposite ends of the spectrum. A guy in his 60’s and a 16 year old kid are both very good at cutting hair and will be great barbers. And I’m in my 40’s picking up skills completely unrelated to other ventures I’ve had. Turns out I enjoy cutting and now I’m good at it.
6. It feels reassuring to have another useful, enjoyable, money making skill in my tool belt. I don’t intend to be a full-time barber (clashes with my semi-retirement). But I will cut hair on the side. And I’ll make some extra money…always need more cash to invest!
7. Good barbering is an art. Michelangelo said “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.” It’s the same way with barbering. When someone sits down in my chair and describes the look they want, the challenge is to see the finished product before I start. Then I just remove the excess hair and style it into the look they desire.
8. Take pride in your work. The feeling you get when you step back from the freshly mowed lawn and say, wow that looks good. Or you finish a project and know you gave it your all. THAT’s the feeling I get when I nail a haircut. When I can step back and say, Damn, I did good. What a great profession to be able to get that feeling multiple times a day!
9. Bonus: when client feedback matches my own elation with a job well done. Sometimes the client is just as excited as I am with the new look. This is much more common in kids. They get a huge smile when you spin them around to look in the mirror at their handsome little faces. They haven’t learned yet that it’s not cool to be so excited. Or maybe they haven’t started comparing themselves to everyone else and deciding they don’t look as handsome as some movie star. Either way, it’s an extra proud moment when the client says “That looks awesome!” or “Perfect.”
10. Going to the next level feels amazing. When I started school I already cut my own hair (what’s left of it), my son’s hair and carved designs in my daughter’s undercut. What I learned very quickly in school was how much better each of those could look. Blending, tapering, fading, designs, line-ups, beard shape-ups all take practice. The next level of skill comes when the knowledge and experience marry up with the artistic eye. All that takes a lot of practice.
11. Hands-on is THE way to learn. From day one I was cutting hair. Joe (my brother, the school owner/director) believes in jumping in right away before you have time to “get in your own head.” New students watch a video for a couple hours then immediately set up their kit at a work station and begin cutting (with the help of a teacher). Over the course of the year, I cut around 1,000 heads. If you paying attention, you can’t help but improve with that much practice!
12. Learn from everyone. Huey, Clay and Nick all do sick fades. Ali works magic with scissors. I have a whole separate list of things I learned from my brother Joe. Youtubers Chis Bossio and MC Barber fade, cut and style as true professionals. Jesse is the beard king. Victoria taught me multiple tricks on women’s cuts. I was able to watch them all do their thing closely. Then I tried it myself. Then I modified to fit my style. They all saved me hours of time by showing me their best tactics they’d developed over time.
13. The right tools make a huge difference. In our kit, we get professional clippers, trimmers, shears, etc. You can buy cheaper versions at Wal-Mart. I have cut hair with cheaper versions. Night and day difference when using professional grade tools. Quality tools used correctly will make your task so much easier and the result so much better.
14. Show up and do the work. Consistently showing up puts you ahead of most. Consistently show up AND do the work—now you’re in the top 10%. It’s sad, but the bar is low. There were many, many days I didn’t feel like driving over the mountains to go to school. Almost all the times I felt like that I made the trip anyway. Some of those days were my best. Some I had a lot of cuts. Some I did amazing work. When you do amazing, you feel amazing.
15. Push through the dip. Seth Godin wrote a great little book called The Dip. In it he talks about the struggle we all encounter in any project we take on. We come to a point in the project or job where we just want to quit. We’re bored, tired, not seeing results, etc. That is the dip. The dip is where we must decide to quit or to push through. Rewarding success and ultimately mastery only come from pushing through the dip. If it’s a worthwhile endeavor, it’s worth pushing through the dip. Reaffirm the commitment and keep going.
16. Finish strong. Maybe you’re familiar with short-timers syndrome. When coming up on the end of anything there’s a tendency to slack off and not work as hard. My last day we were short handed. I jumped in and did 7 cuts after I had received my diploma. Some of them were fantastic cuts. A couple were transformations. It felt rewarding to be cutting right up to the end of my time in school. I would have missed out on that feeling had I succumbed to the temptation to chill out in the office or bounce out early.
17. This is just the beginning. So much more to learn! Anders Ericsson’s famous study reveals that on average it takes around 10,000 hours to master something. Barber school was 1,250 hours of intentional practice. Only 8,750 to go!

Those that know me in real life know 17 is a favorite number for me. So it’s kind of cool that my graduation day landed on April 17th. Another fun coincidence—it was Tax Day. A significant day since I prepared taxes for clients for several years during and after college.

Also, a huge thank you to my wife, Becky, for holding down the fort while I went to school. All those evenings and Saturdays away put extra work on her at home with the kids. Her support made the school experience much easier and more enjoyable.

Now on to the next adventure…