Music echoed through a garage as laughter and banter mingled with the buzz of electric clippers. A student sat in a chair waiting for someone to trim his hair, but the person holding the clippers wasn’t a barber — it was a classmate. At Burlingame, such scenarios are becoming increasingly common. For some students, what began as favors between friends is gradually evolving into a campus culture.
Sophomore Joshua Tai didn’t start cutting hair because he wanted to make money or create a business. Instead, it began with his dissatisfaction with barbershops.
“I started to cut hair initially because my dad would always bring me to a local Chinese salon, and I never really liked the cut,” Tai said. “And even sometimes when I went to a professional, they wouldn’t always give me the best.”
That dissatisfaction led Tai to take matters into his own hands and start cutting his classmates’ hair.
“The idea really just popped into my head that I can cut my friends’ hair for fun as well,” Tai said.
As word spread, Tai’s circle of clients gradually grew beyond his immediate friend group, and he began cutting hair for a broader group of people.
“As time went on, it reached a kind of greater scope of people,” Tai said. “I’ve been cutting people from Mills, South City, El Camino, but majority here at Burlingame, across all grade levels.”
According to Tai, this growth was driven in part by the similar age and perspective between student barbers and their clients, making it easier to communicate and understand style preferences.
“Going to the barbershop for a professional isn’t always the easiest, because you have to communicate with them, and you’re not as familiar with them,” Tai said. “Students feel more comfortable with their own age, and barbers are also pretty expensive, so I don’t charge that much.”
Tai is not the only student barber at Burlingame. As the trend has grown more popular, other students have also begun to take on the role. Senior Micah Chew, for instance, said being a student barber offers a more comfortable and convenient option for his peers.
“People probably feel more comfortable talking to me about it, and being able to talk throughout the whole thing, and it’s convenient because I live close,” Chew said.
Beyond convenience, cutting hair also serves as a form of personal expression for Chew.
“It’s just a way where I can get to know other people that I don’t usually talk to,” Chew said. “It’s kind of a creative source for me… mostly just for fun and to socialize.”
As more students take up the business of cutting hair, what started as small favors between friends may continue to grow into a larger part of student life.
“It’s kind of a hard learning curve… but I could probably see it growing in the future,” Chew said.
