![Phoenix gets in position to initiate the beginning of an intense game. “It's coming to the end of the season here, so [our goal] is to just focus on working harder,” senior lineman Ryan Abbondanza said.](https://theblazerrhs.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/DSC_0042-1200x800.jpg)
Prepping his tools for battle, junior Santiago Pinto Vazquez looks down at his client’s head. He moves his hand to familiarize himself for his upcoming fade. Readying his tools, he strikes while his client has his guard down. However, what Vazquez yields isn’t a scary sword, but rather his shears.
Meanwhile, across town, in sophomore Noah Fuentes’s bathroom, he too is preparing his tools for his client — a fellow man whom he met at a nearby restaurant. As his clients text him that they’re outside for their appointment, Fuentes is prepared for good vibes and chats.
From hallways to Instagram DMs, students talk to others for a need, a service that has since increased in price so much that it has been deemed an expense to many— haircuts. According to Styleseat, the average cost of a men’s haircut is about 29 dollars across the US; in Virginia, however, that cost is even greater, with an average cost of 33 dollars.
Rock Ridge students have felt the increase of haircut prices.
“When I went to a regular barber, it was like 60 bucks,” junior Aidan Lita said. “And this was without tip – I felt scammed.”
Similar remarks were made by junior Fransisco Rodriguez. “[Before I found my new barber], it usually cost me 45 dollars,” Rodriguez said. “With a tip, it would have cost me 70 dollars.”
However, a solution to this expensive problem comes in an unexpected place: school—or rather the students who have taken matters into their own hands, by starting their own salons, cutting at a cheap price, and promoting themselves on platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
“I’ll post [my cuts] on Snapchat,” Fuentes said. “People from school will see that, and then they will ask for a haircut, and I would charge the lowest [prices], like five or 10 dollars and keep working my way up.”
The use of social media was also the inspiration that got them started. “I just looked up [barbering] on TikTok, and luckily, [I] got interested,” Vazquez said. “I bought all my stuff [and] convinced my friends.”
Fuentes was influenced in a similar way. “I started from just looking at other people doing it and seeing how young people work, cutting hair, and how easily people can do it just from starting at their home,” Fuentes said. “I started around summer [three years ago], because I didn’t have anything else to do, and it was just a hobby I was chasing to kill time, [but] then I took it seriously.”
But becoming a barber wasn’t all easy – it took practice and talent for both teens. “Doing [cuts] was a struggle; doing people’s fades in the back was [especially] kind of hard,” Fuentes said. “Trying to get everything even was super hard, but it takes talent [and work]. It looks easy, but it’s really not once you get in behind the chair.”
In fact, it was practice that allowed Vasquez to establish a stable clientele. “I started in my bathroom, and it was horrible, but I just kept practicing,” Vasquez said. “As time went on, I got more clients, more experience, [and] more quality cuts. [Now] I get like four haircuts in a day after school.”
And another plus of student barbers, apart from lower prices than competitors, is the friendly atmosphere they have that keeps clients coming back.
“I [prefer Santi to other barbers] as I connect with him more,” Lita said. “I’m able to play whatever music I want in his barbershop; I don’t have to listen to some old people’s music, and it’s always fun spending more time with him.”
Though some student barbers don’t see a future barbeing, they still find joy in their craft.
“I’ll say this is more like a side hustle,” Fuentes said. “I don’t see myself doing this for the rest of my life, but I love doing it. It’s just for the love of the game, honestly.”
