Transcript
Speaker: Free audio post-production. BioPhonic.com Your hair, if it doesn't look good, it doesn't really finish off your whole look.
Speaker: You don't look as polished. You can have Balenciaga on or whatever, any designer brand. That's what Nere Nuyozov from Cut Culture NYC told me.
Speaker: But is he right? Forget the usual 15-minute cut. He's about education, face shape, and confidence. In this conversation, we're breaking down why your haircut might matter more than your clothes.
Speaker: I said, what? Let's get into it. Welcome to the Fashion Geek Podcast, the show that helps you learn more about men's fashion and get some tips to help you dress your best.
Speaker: This is Reg Ferguson, Fashion Geek number one, and I'm a men's fashion consultant here in New York City, born and raised. My mission is to help you learn more about men's fashion so you can become fashion confident.
Speaker: Hey, if you ever found yourself staring at the closet, not knowing what to wear, if the idea of shopping for clothes makes you feel physically ill, wait till the end of the show and I have something for you.
Speaker: But for now, let's get to the show. Yo, today we're gonna talk with Neri Niyozov. And we're gonna talk about something. I'm laughing, but I'm gonna keep on doing it because I feel him.
Speaker: feel him, as I pronounce his last name, slightly incorrectly, but I'm American. We're gonna talk about something the everyday man should have an interest in How important is getting a haircut and how does it affect your style?
Speaker: Well, ah Mr. n you really double N, but... ah We're here in your building. How are you, man? Good. Thank you for having me on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, thanks for ah your willingness.
Speaker: So before we go on to our topic, please tell us, so what do you do?
Speaker: So what do you do?
Speaker: I am um barber, loosely said, because we do dive into more than just barbering. We do styling. Okay. We cater to people's looks specifically to what they want.
Speaker: It's more than just a copy paste haircut where you usually go to a barbershop. You come in, you sit down, you say the usual, you sit down and you get out. It's 15 minutes, it's rush job.
Speaker: They do the same haircut literally to every single person. What we do here is way more intense. We look at how you look, your style, your face, your head shape, depending on how short you go.
Speaker: And we base it off of that. and Okay, and I realized because he was giving me such a hard time about the pronunciation of his last name, we are here in his store, Cut Culture NYC, here in Chelsea.
Speaker: So as someone who has had haircuts all of his life, not as much now, big shout out to my barber, Panama, in my neighborhood on Court Street,
Speaker: I have now been going very infrequently because I discovered a new hairstyle during COVID.
Speaker: What you're saying to me as a premise, I find to be extremely interesting because it's not that I've never had an opinion about getting my hair cut, but I think being educated about my haircut is something that I've never given any thought of.
Speaker: Why do you deem this so important for your customer base? It's important because you're you're getting dressed. Yeah. You want to look good.
Speaker: Yeah. Your hair, if it doesn't look good, it doesn't really finish off your whole look. You don't look as polished.
Speaker: You can have Balenciaga on or whatever, any designer brand. It could be top-notch, but if your hair is out of shape, it's not looking right, you don't look good. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: And i mean, I think it makes a big, big deal. It it goes in together. It's one of, it's probably 50% of the equation is probably of your look. Because people are looking at your you, they look at your face, they see your hair, and then they look at your clothes as well.
Speaker: Or maybe vice versa. Maybe the clothing goes first and then they look at your face. But either way, it's a big portion of your image. ah Yeah, it's funny because...
Speaker: If we attempted unscientifically to try to suss out the percentage. all Right. You know, I often tell potential clients, people make judgments in one-tenth of a second.
Speaker: Right. So they give you the once-over. Right. Right. And then that's going to be the determination of, you know, how they treat you, you know, how you're to be received. Right.
Speaker: So... I think about my hair as I'm growing it out again. This has been like a ah year and a half experiment each time. And again, this started at COVID.
Speaker: And just for backstory for people who don't know, ah used to get my hair cut every three weeks. My barber is diagonally across the street from me. Okay. We have each other's phone number, right? So I can text him for an appointment.
Speaker: It's that type of relationship. If you remember, and if the listeners remember, particularly being here in New York City, when COVID happened, barbershops were shut down, nail salons, beauty salons shut down.
Speaker: So three weeks comes, can't get a haircut anyway. But then I remember saying to myself, who am I getting a cut for now? Right. I'm not meeting clients. I'm not in interacting with anyone. I'm in my house.
Speaker: So you probably remember this this as well as I remember that first Monday that they gave the green light. I remember like it was yesterday because there was a big PDF. I don't know if you remember that from the state about the guidelines for COVID and dealing with the public.
Speaker: And I remember giving that to my barber. I'm positive my barber didn't know about that PDF until I gave it to him. and I was like, hey, are you gonna be for you know following all these guidelines? Because it was great concern, right?
Speaker: Because it was a viral you know i will affliction, so to speak, that hit us. So I remember getting it cut. And to his credit, he only had like two, three people in at a time, were spaced out.
Speaker: Really impeccable. But I remember after I got it cut, I said, I was really concerned about being ill with COVID. And I said, and don't think I'm coming back in three weeks. Again, and don't need to, i'm not meeting clients.
Speaker: So I let it grow I let it grow and I let it grow. And then 18 months later, you know i had this big, a massive curls and people really liked it.
Speaker: It was a totally different look. um I never had that type of look. And even a friend of mine at that time, could laugh, she said, oh, you should open an Instagram account for your hair.
Speaker: So again, I've done this now, this will be my third time doing this. And something that I know you understand as ah as a professional, After I did it the first time, i remember sitting with my barber and explaining to him, hey, I'm no longer going to be coming every three weeks.
Speaker: I have this new look. People really like it. Chicks dig it.
Speaker: So I don't want you to take this personally that now going to be coming amazingly infrequently. Right? And I remember when we first met through your sister, Natasha,
Speaker: I was telling you that when I first went to get it cut, I was trying to negotiate with my barber. And I was like, well, you know, I really like this. Maybe we'll just cut it fast, man.
Speaker: He just looked at me so blank. He was like, nope, we're cutting it. We don't do that type of thing. We go short only. Right. And i think to your point, and maybe he would acknowledge it as well, it was just more about It's this what?
Speaker: There's so much. Yeah. You know, there is no middle ground. And I respected that. You know, that's his experience. So I'm saying all that now to come back to this whole your premise here in this shop, your ethos is educating the customer.
Speaker: Correct. So why do you why is that so important to you? It's very important. Education is probably the most crucial part of all this.
Speaker: After COVID is like literally a turning point and a lot of people grew their hair up and a lot of people started noticing actually looks good too. Yeah. So, uh, ah There's a lot that you can do with your hair, but the hairstylist, barber, whatever you want to call them, they have to be educated on what they're doing as well.
Speaker: There's a lot of things involved when you're cutting longer hair. i You need to figure out what will look good for that person's face specifically.
Speaker: longer hair, shorter hair. As you start growing out your hair, you'll actually see that there are different growth patterns now. It might curl in one direction where it never curled that way before. You know what mean? i call that characteristics. Like the characteristics of your hair. Right, right, yeah yeah right. So a big...
Speaker: part of it is not to fight it. It's always to go into the direction of what your hair is actually doing. And what we do, well, what we used to do as barbers traditionally, you don't run with what your hair does. you do you You chop it down and then you plaster it with gel.
Speaker: Not in my instance. all wait We don't do gel. No gel. Okay. But it's short, so it's tameable. But a short haircut you have to get often.
Speaker: It will only look good. There's no such thing as like low, low maintenance. It's either a low maintenance haircut where you don't have to style it or it's a longer, you get a least frequent haircut, but you do have to style it.
Speaker: So you're going to spend more time at home styling it. You won't go back to the barber or salon as often. and vice versa. So you're gonna get a really short haircut.
Speaker: You might, you could wake up, run out the door, but you're gonna have to get a haircut every two weeks, if not less. This is interesting. So are you saying that there's no
Speaker: there's no wrong way to achieve an aesthetic of a haircut, meaning short versus long? You can make a short haircut look really good hu with proper proportions.
Speaker: And what do you mean by proper proportions? The head rounds. A lot of people, a lot of barbers, what they do, they take it up a little too high. What does that mean? That means you're digging into the curve, the parietal ridge of the head. That's where the head starts turning. So it starts becoming round.
Speaker: Your head is round. Most people don't realize that. When you cut into the round of the head, you usually it's not a very flattering look for the person, especially men.
Speaker: If you're going for a more masculine shape, the shape that you're going after is square. Square is a more and angular structured ah shape.
Speaker: Round is a little bit more airy, a little bit more feminine. Oh, So plus, if you have a face shape that's round to begin with already, and you give someone round haircut or hairstyle, you're doubling down on round and round. There is no harmony and it does not fit the person.
Speaker: So people come in, they ask for a particular haircut or show a picture or a reference photo, usually of Brad Pitt. Uh...
Speaker: Not at my shop. You'll be surprised. Or Drake. One or the other. It's usually one or the other. really? Yes. um And it just doesn't fit them.
Speaker: They don't have those dimensions of their face or forehead or whatever it may be. And as a professional, I think it's super important that you tell the person, this is probably going fit you.
Speaker: You're going look hot. and So that's I think that's a big thing. But a lot of barbershops, unfortunately, it's a business. We're trying to make money.
Speaker: The more heads. Right. But more heads means factory line. You can't dedicate as much time per person. And you might not be able to dedicate the proper time to really understand what the person wants.
Speaker: What do you consider an average time with a customer here at this shop? Here at this shop, it's going to be an hour. Whether it's a shortcut or a long cut? Doesn't matter. Okay.
Speaker: We are also catering to a completely new area. So all new, client these are all new clients and all new clients will get one hour. and One hour, why? It's also wash.
Speaker: It's consultation. You need to know, do they style their hair? Do they not style their hair? Do they put product? Do they use a blow dryer? How do they dress?
Speaker: what's their What's their lifestyle? How much time do they really want to dedicate to their hair? And it's important. So, I mean, if they tell me it's low maintenance, we go do we go towards low low maintenance if that's what they want to go after. But it's ah it's still, the time is dedicated to one hour regardless of whether you're going to take the whole time to cut their hair.
Speaker: understand. It can take that long just to get an idea of what we want. When you're asking, like you said, so so for the audience, you have two shops.
Speaker: This is the third. Right. Your other two shops are out on the island. Correct. In Coac. Yes. This is your first entree into the city. You're here in Chelsea. Yes. And to your point, you're building a book of business, one could argue, right? You're building new clientele.
Speaker: Right. is It's extremely unlikely that your Comac customer is coming down here. Right. Unless they happen to work here. And now, you know, they could go, oh, I could get haircut afterward. So you're starting from scratch.
Speaker: Basically. Basically. So when you're asking all those questions for all these new heads, Where are you filing this information?
Speaker: Reword that please. Sure.
Speaker: Filing the, or what? Filing this information. Like you said, it's a new person. They're sitting here in this chair. Right? You said it's an hour. Right. Cut and consultation.
Speaker: Yes. Where are you filing that information so when they come back, you know, oh, this is the person who wants this, who needs this. Right in here. All in there. No, I'm just kidding. oh ah No, we do we we do use a booking platform.
Speaker: Booking platform has an basically an internal side and external side. So we have notes for the customer and we do have notes for ourselves. Okay. So everything will be noted on ah on a technical basis.
Speaker: side of things, you know, it's it's more for us. right The customer will not know those terms. right So that's, yeah, that's how it's filed. Yes. So do you literally, after the customer, after you send them on their way, you go into your phone or your tablet and then?
Speaker: Absolutely. Okay. Yes. So every, yeah, everything's written down. Wow. Yeah. And is this an app you design or is this white labeled, this app? Yes, we use Squire.
Speaker: Okay. So you do you you do have an option. it's It's a booking platform, maybe specifically for barbers. I think it's more popular amongst them. um It does have notes for you and for you to jot down people.
Speaker: But traditionally, the barber usually has good memory with this. I've had situations where I haven't cut people in seven years. They come sit down, they say usual, and you actually know what they want.
Speaker: So it is a common thing for the barber to yeah not remember your name. They'll forget. but they will they but they but they will but they definitely will remember your
Speaker: Yeah, you know, at first I was surprised, but now after reflecting, that makes sense to me. I've only had personally a handful of barbers in my life. and if if If I attempt to look at broad generalizations, I can't speak for other races or ethnicities, but I feel African-American men, um we don't rotate barbers. and um Particularly stay in the same city, same area.
Speaker: So I can literally count on two hands, the barbers I've had and my decades of life. um And this current relationship, I'd have to really give it some thought.
Speaker: and Probably could just look at my phone, but I think we've been together 10 years or close to 10 years. Wow. Yeah. Because i want, once a barber knows me,
Speaker: To me, that's it. It's about really being, brand I'm a brand loyal type of person. It's so relationship. It's a relationship. And no person, regardless of race or ethnicity, wants to come out that door looking effed No. Right. but Make me look bad.
Speaker: Yeah, but you know, but there's some barbers who don't have the skill. Right. Or maybe to your point, the communication yes between that individual and the client.
Speaker: Okay. for the customer coming out whole. Right. Right. We, listen, you're a barber, but I'm i'm sure you remember coming out of a shop chopped up by a barber sometime in your life. Of course.
Speaker: I remember that too. Matter of fact, when that happened to me, it led me, I was watching another barber cut everyone fly. And literally after I got butchered, I went right up to him and said, you're my barber.
Speaker: As I got butchered, with the other barber. and Still sitting in the in his chair. I got up. Oh. No, but it was like this. Gotcha. So he hits he saw it all because I'm like,
Speaker: That was the, I was going, i was about to go on a date with my, the girl next door. Right. And I'm like, I can't believe this. This looks terrible, but I went right to that individual. And I had that relationship for a long time.
Speaker: He always said, i was in undergrad at that time at NYU, not too far from where we are here. And he said, I can't believe you did that, but that's who I am still as a person. Like,
Speaker: You don't ask, you don't get. And I was like, I'd been watching him. He had clients for hours. He's busy for a reason. He's good. Right. And I walked right up to him. I said, you're my barber the last time. And then that relationship was probably 10 years.
Speaker: And how old were you when that happened to you? Oh, i look like I said, i was an undergrad. I think I was freshman freshman. either freshmen, so I don't know, anywhere from freshman to junior year ah at NYU.
Speaker: Like said, particularly, it was on the night of a date for someone that I looked at from afar since junior high school and finally was going to have my first date with, you know, the girl next door. and And I think I remember telling her was just like, oh, this looks terrible.
Speaker: She was like, oh, this looks good, damn it. here Haircut like clothing. Right. You know, like you've said a lot of things. I'm like, yeah, i parallel, parallel, parallel.
Speaker: In light of what we do that.
Speaker: How it makes you feel. If you look in the mirror and you look butchered, you don't want to be around the public. Your confidence is gone.
Speaker: Your confidence is gone.
Speaker: Before we had this interview, you mentioned something that I never thought of in my life. So here you are, you're in a new space and I'm looking, I'm like, wow, you got lights and everything looks nice. And you go, no, we need more lights.
Speaker: Care to share that story again? Why do you need more lights when it seems like- Is Brighton here? it Seems like it. I can see my intern's hair. They all got hair, I can see it.
Speaker: It's not about more lights. It's about properly placed lights. So same thing. i think it's really close to videography photography. When you're doing a fade, this is specifically for short haircuts.
Speaker: Okay. eight And specifically fade. Fade specific, right. Okay. When you are recording
Speaker: When you're looking at the side of somebody's head and the light is overhead, you're creating shadows. Really? So the shadow that's created on the person's head, you might be working and working and working and looks good.
Speaker: When they go out into the light, and it's not so overhead naturally. So it can actually look Like with demarcation in it.
Speaker: So you'll have lines in your fade as you walk out. What? Yeah. It'll look good in here because you you made it specifically pour that light. But when you go out into natural light, it's not going to look good.
Speaker: Is that specific to people getting fades or just... it It is specifically for somebody that's getting probably like anywhere from... a number one lower on the side. It it is specifically for Fates.
Speaker: Okay. Because the shape, the silhouette, you could probably get away with with less lighting if it's longer. Okay. Well, I'm not in the fade game anymore. and I see that. a But I was back in the day.
Speaker: So there was no question about that. I realized you had said something earlier and I want to make it a little bit more personal, if I may. You were talking about how everyone has a round head. Okay.
Speaker: Well, I would counter by interpretations of round, meaning not a perfect 360. three sixty Right. Right. Case in point myself, I have a oval shaped head.
Speaker: Yes. I have a narrow head, and right? um My head is narrow and long, right? So when you gave the example before about round head and a round haircut, right how that wasn't befitting, and right?
Speaker: And then you mentioned something, correct me if I'm wrong, you were talking about if the cuts can be square, that's more optimal. For a more masculine shape.
Speaker: For a more masculine shape. Yes. So in the case of me and my current style, which is an Afro, him how do you make the assessment? This is an oval.
Speaker: Correct. I don't think my hair cut, know, my hairstyle, because not cut, style isn't round per se. To me.
Speaker: It can be, because it is an afro. Okay. So it can be round. But you said something more important. What's it? You said oval. Yeah. That's actually the optimal shape.
Speaker: Everything that we try to replicate usually is to keep proportions like an oval shape. Really? Yes. Why? Because an oval face shape, you can have almost any hairstyle.
Speaker: Really? That's actually the the most optimal face shape that you can have. I made it tell you because someone of has a long, narrow head. Yes, ab long shape is a little bit different.
Speaker: Right. Narrow forehead, for example, you said it's a little bit more narrow. That's a little different as well, but we can combat all those things. So if you do have a particularly long face, we usually try to give a little bit more volume on the sides.
Speaker: So you kind of widen it. and So the proportions are, you're trying to make it look a little bit more round per se because you're trying to widen it because that's what a ah wide, a round face shape would be like.
Speaker: Okay. And for somebody that has a round shape, you would do the opposite.
Speaker: or I should say, sorry, square shape, you would do the opposite.
Speaker: I made it tell you, for someone who has a U-shaped head, only thing you're doing as you're growing up is wondering what would be like to have a round head. and Like, real talk. It's just like, oh, man. You know, I remember once growing up,
Speaker: When someone say like, yeah, it looked like two guys that smashed me on either side. So, you know, but you work with what you have. Yes. You mentioned fades. So my generation was part of that era. And obviously the fade has been around before either one of us was ever thought. Absolutely.
Speaker: But in my generation of the fade, ah I had a high top fade. And I remember that same barber that I watched doing impeccable cuts. and all Fades, high tops, right gumbies, everything.
Speaker: he He said, this is actually the best haircut for your shaped head. Uh, hi, Top Fade.
Speaker: Can i say my opinion on that? Yeah, you can give an opinion. ah So if you do have a face shape that's a little longer, ab long, right, what does a high top do?
Speaker: You're cutting down the sides. So you're making it slimmer and you're giving it volume volume on top. yeah So what you did was my example of the round and round. You just made did long and longer. You did long and even longer, right? So it has no, there is no harmony in that.
Speaker: You need to balance it out. So if you have a really long shape, you want to give it that width. Well, it was high top fade back. Yeah, yeah. You don't want, you didn't and you didn't want height.
Speaker: And that's kind of like... The issue, because a lot of young people, they just look at trends. They look at the the athlete, the celebrity, the whoever. And they go, i want this.
Speaker: And it just doesn't match them. It looks good on them. it won't really look good on you. Since I was there and you weren't, I would contend that it looks super dope on me.
Speaker: i I don't disagree. I highly doubt that you can look bad. It's not that. and I could. ah told you. I got cut up by a guy on the first date with the girl next door. I looked crazy.
Speaker: it was like between a high top and a round afro. It was crazy. I remember just going, oh, my God. ah can't believe ah did this. can't believe this guy sucked.
Speaker: um But, yeah, of that era, Yeah, was fly as hell. I believe it. Yeah. You're fly as hell now. I appreciate that, but just saying. you know I could only imagine when you were younger.
Speaker: I'm just saying. It was... Me and Kid and Play, I was a high top fade. so um And that was inspired by Big Daddy King, who was my hero.
Speaker: So, yeah. I mean, I thought that hairstyle was going to rock forever. Right. And things change, which leads to the thing about the fade. You know, I'm seeing now, you know, younger generation of men rocking the fade.
Speaker: Right. And it's great. Like when I see that, I get a kick out of because I'm like, yeah, I did that 20 years ago. It's come back. It's fun to watch. I will never revisit it because I did it already. Right. And like said, I found this new thing, you know, which I think, you know, I'm going to do this to the wheels full off. Right.
Speaker: Every 18 months, a little bit less. 14 is really the sweet spot. Every 14, 16 months, cut it, cut it, grow, cut it. Um,
Speaker: look Before we did this, we were talking about something that I always found to be something that I had no interest in. And it seems like you have an interest in giving this type of information to your client.
Speaker: I have never once known or cared what blade was being used on my head. Is it a two, is it a three, is it a four? I could give two bleeps.
Speaker: I've never cared. Why? Why should I care? I'm here, you're the pro, right? And we were having a conversation, you and and Miller, who's also on the barbers here, and it sounded like this was something that you actually want your clients to know about. What blade is being used on their head?
Speaker: but So let me reword that. Yeah, please. People actually do come in and tell me what the blade is. That is so crazy to me. But the the thing is, is that we don't actually want that.
Speaker: Okay. we want the We want the opposite. You don't need to tell us technically what to do. You need to tell us what you want to look like. Aesthetically what Right. What you do is actually appropriate.
Speaker: Okay. You don't need to know what number it is. I've never wanted to know. I think it's just a good thing. It's just, but there's a crew of people. yeah I've heard it. i mean, even at my barbershop, because I go in frequently. Give me a five, give me a three.
Speaker: I'm like, how do they know that? Why do they want to know that? That's what paying you for. You know the number. I don't want, I don't want to know that. that I don't want that in my brain at all. I don't care.
Speaker: Is the blade clean? Cut my hair. Like, that's the most boring thing. Is the blade clean? Right. Did you clean this blade before you cut my hair? I washed. See, I washed my hair before I get my hair cut.
Speaker: That's how I grew up. Right. You don't little barber with a dirty head of hair. It's disrespectful. But all this, the clips and I'm like, I never want to know that.
Speaker: I'm never going to know And like I said, you know, again, I'm going through a arguably different style phase now, which is the least important ever and it's you know in my life.
Speaker: But okay, so that, okay, I'm glad we got that cleared up. Can I say actually the best thing that you can do for your barber if you do come in is actually show him a reference photo and instead.
Speaker: Of yourself? ah It doesn't have to be, but you can you can, if you can find comparable hair texture, and show him a photo of that, or several, maybe three reference photos, that would be way better than you trying to tell me technically what I'm supposed to do.
Speaker: Because I don't think you're going to get that right. and that's And that's okay, because we do this for years. You know, this is what we're educated in. and know, you're not going to ask the doctor what know, what he knows, or you're going to tell him what you know.
Speaker: it's it's It's funny. It's comical, really, but that's how people come in and they try to tell us. But the best thing you can do is just show show us a photo of what you want.
Speaker: You've been in this game a long time. The immediate thing that comes to my mind right now is we're talking about hairstyles. So the question I immediately have for you is I am stereotypically African-American in terms of the texture of my hair.
Speaker: And my guess is that the majority of customers have straight hair like you. Okay. So the question is, if someone, if a brother comes ah up in here, how do you handle that?
Speaker: We, we do cut. All textures. Okay. Regardless of how curly. Okay. Does it become a little bit more complicated if it's something that we haven't done before?
Speaker: I will not do it. If it's something that I don't do, if somebody comes in here and asks me about braids, I'm not going to do braids because I don't you i don't do, I don't braid. But if somebody comes in here and asks for...
Speaker: A trim, a cut, an afro. I'll do that. so okay We freehand it. We do it with scissors. We'll fade We'll taper it. whatever Whatever you want, really. I mean, it doesn't vary heavily, but it does vary when it comes to the type of product that you use.
Speaker: more oils and moisturizers for curlier hair and how you style it. That might be a little bit more of a dividing line on my particular grasp on hair, but I always do whatever I can to the best of my ability. And if I cannot do it, you show me something that I can't do, I will not touch it. I'll refer you to somebody that i know that will do a better job. but Okay. All right.
Speaker: ah So brothers have come in the shop? Absolutely. Okay. Absolutely. Okay. No, because, you know, we've seen this in movies and TV shows, you know, of our era growing up.
Speaker: Right. You know, it'll be a comedic scene and, you know, a brother comes into a stereotypical white barbershop. Right, right.
Speaker: I don't know if it's a movie, but clearly you do too. And vice versa, right? It can be. But yeah, so both ways, I think. It's usually, because it's it's uncommon. you yeah It might be something that you don't know how to do.
Speaker: And I've had people tell me like, the other shop actually told me they don't do this type of hair. And I mean, I think it's but that's accredited to the shopper. Right. If they told you specifically, and then there's people that do take it and then they butcher it also. So it's, a it goes both ways. Right. Yeah. Right.
Speaker: No, no, no. i mean And I mean, you, you know, you nailed it, right? I mean, it's a legitimate question for me to ask, but you know, there are some barbers that they'll look at a certain quality cross section of hair and you know, it's, whoa.
Speaker: Yeah. Can't do that. and then there are others that, Hey, you know, I can do it, but I know one i want to do it. You have a diversity, right? So you can go from cruelly to straight.
Speaker: I think once you start diving into hair in general, you start going through all textures because you have a love for hair in general. And then you start going towards straight, curly, doesn't really matter because you start going from longer hair to shorter hair to styling hair to, you know, it's just a never-ending game of education for us as well.
Speaker: So it's something that's interesting also. right ah That's why, because you have a love for it, you pick up on all those things, really. um Okay. Give me, and again, I know you stress education, education, educate on the client, educate on client.
Speaker: Give me an example of your most difficult client. The most difficult client is someone that doesn't know what they want.
Speaker: That's by far the hardest thing to deal with. Okay. So give me an example of that. what does that What does that mean? Somebody comes in and they just really do not know what they want at all.
Speaker: They don't even have a reference. They might come in with their mom. Mom says she wants a shorter. He wants it longer. That's all it is. I remember that. Something along those lines. But we have adults, like, I mean, adults, who like 17, 18 year old.
Speaker: And they come in they just really, they just don't know what they want. Because they, you know, they're young. Mm-hmm. Indecisive. And you try to offer them a few different styles that might work, but some people are stubborn more than others. i mean, it's just part of the business, part of the job, customer service. We have to do our best and try to do the best we can with them.
Speaker: Okay. And to me, you've kind of hinted at it. what's the What's the best customer experience for you? Best customer experience is someone that just trusts you at that point. And they go, you know, i know you're going to do the right job.
Speaker: And you do your best, literally for that person. Okay. So, Mary, I'm known for doing research.
Speaker: I want you to answer this for me. Barbering isn't just a job. It's an art.
Speaker: Yes, it can be. But art is subjective. It is. ah There are certain things within hair that are not subjective.
Speaker: Like what? In precision barbering, there are guidelines in the way that you cut hair. And those particular things are not subjective. So it's it it kind of is a dividing line of you trying to get yourself educated in precision where it's like proper guidelines and then you do something that maybe fits somebody's style a little bit more.
Speaker: So you kind of, you you learn the rules and then you kind of break them yeah in a sense. And that's more of the art form. For barbering. Because it can still be.
Speaker: Definitely subjective. There's certain things you kind of just do. There's a lot of personalization. Especially at the end of the haircut. where you can chop into it or whatever is it's very individual and that's the art part i think of barbering because like nobody's really going to let you do picasso on their hair unless it's an editorial thing and you're up on stage and you're doing something like that in for barbering it's it's a bit more conservative for a majority of the time so it's not quite
Speaker: art But it is art in the sense of you molding it towards that particular customer. All right. So you call your barber tools instruments of transformation.
Speaker: Care to elaborate?
Speaker: Can we go on to another? I don't know. Hey, I mean, this is what it was on your gram, son. Was it? Hey, don't look at my notes. It was on my gram. Wow.
Speaker: It was on your gram. Somebody messed up. All right. Well, let's see. Let's see if they messed up again. You have the following six principles.
Speaker: Precision and technique. Personalized experience. Continuous growth. trust and integrity, attention to detail, respect for tradition, drive for innovation.
Speaker: Are those principles familiar to you Yes. Thank God. yeah So let's start with number one, precision and technique. pre processsion and Precision and technique was just what we were talking about.
Speaker: It's the educational side of it. It was basically created by Vidal Sassoon. Oh, wow. So those are like the rules that we kind of go towards. Those are the three shapes that we were talking about before. Those are the main shapes that you have in hair, and not just barbering, in in hair styling in general, hair styling.
Speaker: Cosmetology, you can call it. and Circle, square, triangle. Those are what we base off all our shapes for cutting. and Okay. Personalized experience.
Speaker: Personalized experience would be the consultation. So that's when we sit down, we talk about... What do you do? What's your job? What kind of maintenance for your hair?
Speaker: Do you style? Do you blow dry? Do you want it to be trendy? Do you want it to be aggressive? Is it conservative? Something along those lines. That's going to be that. Okay.
Speaker: Continuous growth. Continuous growth is your progress in the field. So continually going to classes for yourself, which there are huge array of nowadays, not even in New York, but all over all the states and different countries.
Speaker: We've, we've gone to Canada together, Poughkeepsie, here in Brooklyn, one-off classes. ah Look and learns and then longer three to five day educational courses.
Speaker: Wow. Trust and integrity. Trust and integrity. I mean, it's the relationship that you build with your clientele, basically showing that you care.
Speaker: Basically you are their friend and you're doing the best for them. Hmm. Attention to detail. that goes straight back into like the meticulous work, the precision, just go, you know, being super meticulous with your detail, really.
Speaker: It's, ah it's important. Respect for tradition, drive for innovation.
Speaker: So I've been a barber for 20 now. Wow. So wow so probably 10 years of that time was all traditional barbering you can call it yeah what do you wear get with traditional barbering would probably be more um more clipper work clipper over comb work more than the new era barbering I'll call it is more towards scissor work and those techniques that we use with precision
Speaker: oh
Speaker: And then of course you also have styling, which is something that you don't usually get out of a barbershop, I feel like. what What constitutes styling? Because I would i would contend I go to a traditional barbershop. Right.
Speaker: Right. Like I said, when I came and tried to negotiate my haircut deal, you looked at me, laughed, and went straight to the bricks. And in a way, that's worked out. That's fine. And like I said, I remember that conversation. You looked and you went, I could see the middle.
Speaker: I was like, oh, that's interesting. Right. So... Again, going back to why do we try to push people more towards a shorter haircut is because there's less styling involved.
Speaker: Most of the time, most barbershops, it's like the most of the haircuts, like their portfolio is like an alternative of a buzz cut, basically. Because less styling.
Speaker: You don't need to take a blow dryer two and actually, you know, give it volume, style, whatever, diffuse it or ah put product in it. ah we We always literally just dunked gel, like the comb into a jar a gel and just went at it, you know? So it was easier, it was faster. There were reasons why we did it also.
Speaker: I mean ah you're in a place where you're trying to generate money. And time is money. yeah And unfortunately, you wanna cut as quickly as possible so you can make X amount. Cause haircuts were always cheap.
Speaker: It's only recent that they actually jumped up with in price with like COVID the whole nine. But now we're going towards, you know, like you said, you don't wanna come back so often anymore. So we raised the price, but we give something more to the customer too.
Speaker: and So we wanna deal with, How is your hair in the morning? How is, you know, can you style it on your own? And we need to teach you how to do that. You gotta use the proper product and whether you have to diffuse it, if you have curly hair or blow dry it with a vented brush or a round brush or whatever, we we kind of need to be there to teach teach the customer how to do that.
Speaker: Do you think... You're here in the city. You're here in Chelsea. There's a lot of competition. Mm-hmm. What you just said, do you think that's one or the differentiator between you and all this competition literally, you know surrounding you?
Speaker: Correct. I came here, i looked around at the competition and i don't think I have any competition. but i mean, it would be nice to actually have a community though.
Speaker: Cause I'm not trying to make it where it's me against everyone. I actually want barbers to come here and actually get a haircut too. Really? Yes, absolutely. Cause why are we trying, there's enough customers out there for all us.
Speaker: Why, you know, try to be cutthroat. It's not about being cutthroat. It's about just taking the whole industry and getting better. You know?
Speaker: And yes, that is a different differentiator because I'm coming from a place where I see everybody is doing the same thing, where they are just trying to rush it. For me, it's more about I'm trying to build a relationship with this person. i like cutting hair and that's just that's just that.
Speaker: and yeah I just want to spread love around, you know, that that's that shit and build a community off of it. Well said. We are now up to the lightning round.
Speaker: ah internal likes when I say that. Why is fashion important, Nehru?
Speaker: Fashion is very important because your image matters. Your image is, mean, you can't sugarcoat the fact that people judge you before you even speak.
Speaker: Absolutely. So, yeah, in a split second, people look at you, they glance, and they they make their assessment of how you're being perceived. Yep. so your fashion is definitely important.
Speaker: What difference has fashion made in your life?
Speaker: It's just like everything else I feel like it's progress. Just like education, just like cutting hair, everything. I think I'm trying to polish my image and it's important to me.
Speaker: And fashion is that what barbering is for me as well. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: What's a top fashion tip you would give the everyday man so he could look his best?
Speaker: Simple.
Speaker: Simplicity for me.
Speaker: I usually go for monochrome tones. I like that. It makes it simpler. i don't have a lot of time to pick up my, you know, pick out my wardrobe in the morning. So I try to have something like a capsule wardrobe yeah per se.
Speaker: So it still looks good, clean, but, and it's quick. Yeah. Makes sense. What does the term always be fly mean to you?
Speaker: your're You should always look on point. You step outside. You're your own walking billboard. Somebody could come up to you and, you know,
Speaker: you You live in New York City. You have opportunity literally everywhere. Yeah. get a job opportunity, a collaboration, anything really. So i think you should always look and check.
Speaker: Haircut clean, clothes clean, everything looks on point.
Speaker: Well, I don't have a haircut, so I guess I'm not that clean. yeah if You're clean enough. So Neri, Nyozov, he's always going to bust on me of Cut Culture.
Speaker: Thank you so much for the time. Thank you. And Mazel Tov. This was a pleasure. Thank you. learned from Neri that a haircut can be as important as your outfit.
Speaker: I still don't agree with him about my high top fade. It was the best. What does he know? You can find Neri on Instagram at Neri the Barber, N-E-R-I, in his shop at Cut Culture NYC.
Speaker: If you want to level up your gear game, level like a two, that's a haircut joke, then let's make it happen. Take initiative and become fashion confident in 30 days.
Speaker: All you have to do is email me at reg at nyfashiongeek.com for a consultation. Well, that's a wrap. To my team of interns, past and present, who have helped make the Fashion Geek Podcast what it is today, I thank Always be fly.
Speaker: Free audio post-production. by alphonic dot com
