Features

Senior opens living room barbershop, offers $10 haircuts

Ajay Branch, Suriya Sundramurthi, and Vijay Vanathayan|November 10, 2015

Senior Glen Gabriel lines up pilot Ravi Cherian’s hairline.

He’s the hero of our hallways.

Saving seniors from going to prom without a straight hairline, senior Glen “da barber” Gabriel cuts hair for only $10 and has cut hair since he was in the sixth grade.

Ever since he was a kid, Gabriel’s parents would cut his hair, and the end result would get worse every time. Eventually the bad haircuts pushed him over the edge. “I remember one time in elementary school, my dad lined me up with blue painter’s tape,” Gabriel said.

In sixth grade, Gabriel decided he would not live to see himself with another bad haircut. “I started off when my mom didn’t cut my hair [well] and I put matters in my own hands,” Gabriel said.

At first, cutting hair was just his hobby. He used YouTube to learn different techniques. After five years, Gabriel decided his skills were good enough to make it a business. His first location was outside of his house, because his parents did not like hair inside. Next, he moved to the bathroom, and now he has a professional-grade barber chair in his living room.

“One thing that the world should know is don’t give up, man… and that doesn’t apply [to just] barbering, that applies for everything else.”

His first haircut, outside of his family, was a student from Clarksburg High School during the summer before sophomore year. Originally, he charged $5, but soon realized — after four cuts — that $10 was still reasonable.

All throughout sophomore year his business continued to grow. He gained recognition and business through word of mouth and Instagram, @glen_da_barber, where he posts before and after haircut pictures. After two years of cutting hair, Gabriel now has a consistent amount of customers weekly.

Gabriel still believes that he has room for improvement and thinks staying humble is important. “When you see yourself going that far, just be like dang I’m grateful,” Gabriel said. “You don’t let it go to your head and go around like every barber out there’s crap; you pay them some respect too.”