Jake

Hi, I'm Jake — no, I'm just playing. What's going on, guys? I'm Jake, 34 years old, and I've been cutting hair for two years. I love being a barber, man. It's a beautiful job. People ask me, "What's going on? How you doing today?" And I tell them, "Living the dream. I'm living the dream." They always chuckle, right? But it's true. I am living the dream, man.

I worked in the oil field since I was 18 years old — 12, 14 years for the same company. I always wanted to be a barber. I didn't know it at first, but I look back on it and I was in love with it. I got my first skin fade when I was probably 13 or 14. It was my friend's brother, man — he cut me on his porch. I grew up down in Cleburne, and we'd all get together after school on Friday, go over to his house, and he'd fade us all up right there on his front porch. I got my first high bald fade and fell in love with it. So that's a little backstory of my love for barbering and how I kind of fell into it. I didn't know I wanted to be a barber. It took years for me to figure that out.

I'm just myself. I'm just happy, because I found my dream job. For me, I don't feel like I'm working. I don't want to say I'm never in a bad mood, but I'm kind of never in a bad mood. I'm happy to be at the shop, so I've always got a smile on my face, and I think that energy just kind of rubs off on you. For me, it's more than cutting hair. Obviously we connect with the clients, but it's really just a whole vibe. It depends on how the conversation flows whenever you're in my chair. We might be laughing, talking about something silly, or we might get into a deep conversation about home life or work life or whatever the case may be.

On top of that, I'm a very detail-oriented person. In my other career I was a project manager, so I had to pay attention to detail and manage a bunch of different things at one time. I feel like those skills relate to cutting hair. You've got to talk with your client and carry on a conversation, but at the same time I'm watching to make sure I don't get behind for my next client who scheduled their appointment, because I'm respectful of everybody's time. They're respectful of my time, and I'll be respectful of theirs. And on top of that, you're going to leave with a good haircut.

As far as haircuts go, I'm very traditional with it. I love just a good bald fade with a beard — those are my favorite things to do. High bald fade, mid bald fade, doesn't matter. I love to fade it into the beard and line up the beard nice and sharp. Those are probably my favorite haircuts to do. But yeah, my name's Jake. Come see me at District Barbershop Alliance.