YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Daniel Thomas, a Gateways to Better Living client, sat in a barber chair at Beyond Expectations Barber College while Lyndal Kimble created Thomas’ chosen style.
“It’s a fade,” Kimble explained of the cut that features shorter hair on the sides and back with a gradual fade to longer hair on top.
Thomas and about 35 others from Gateways picked their styles and received cuts Thursday from students at Beyond Expectations through a program called Cutting Barriers.
Kristie Murphy, Gateways community engagement director, said the agency partnered with the barber college to teach barber students how to work with people with disabilities. She visited the school earlier this week to offer pointers about how to make people with various disabilities more comfortable.
“It’s really our goal to have community inclusion and really find a way to get the community to embrace working with people with disabilities,” she said. “So this was kind of something they wanted to learn. They’re teaching their barbers right in class. This is part of their training. And now we’ll have the actual practical [exercise] where they’ll get to engage with the folks with disabilities.”
The barber college students learned about various disabilities, and Murphy led activities designed to teach them what it feels like to have one.
Eryca Garrett, Beyond Expectations co-director, said when Murphy contacted the college about the initiative, she jumped at the opportunity.
“I think everybody deserves a great haircut …,” she said. “When you look good, you feel good. So we kind of go with that motto. We just thought it was a great partnership. We have students learning, so they need to know different environments, how to deal with different clients, just being as nice as possible, as positive as possible.”
Murphy said the program also allows the barbers to count working with individuals with disabilities among their skill sets.
“And what I also explain to them is, half the battle is wanting to work with our population,” she said. “So if you want to work with them, you’re already halfway there.”
Beyond Expectations Barber College’s original location is in Akron, started in 2013. It expanded to Youngstown, originally on Midlothian Boulevard, in 2019, before moving in 2021 to Glenwood Avenue, said Eric D. Garrett II, co-director and Eryka Garrett’s brother.
Students take classes and practice techniques from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, he said. The program runs for 1,800 hours, or about 10 1/2 months.
The barber college is open to the public, offering lower-cost haircuts and services.
Kimble started at Beyond Expectations last January and expects to graduate in a few months. His family includes relatives with disabilities, so although he missed the training earlier this week, he was comfortable cutting Thomas’ hair.
It’s not a lot different than cutting anyone else’s.
“You’ve just got to be more gentle and understanding,” he said.
Pictured at top: Lyndal Kimble gives Daniel Thomas, a Gateways to Better Living client, a fade haircut Thursday morning at Beyond Expectations Barber College.