Ten Year Anniversary

This July it will be ten years since I started Tim Carr Hair and I wanted to thank everyone who’s been coming to the salon because you’ve made it all possible—from the people who have only came in for one haircut all the way through the people who followed me from Alexander’s for Hair to the Sola Salon on Wilshire and Bundy, the shop I rented a chair in on Sawtelle in Culver City, to the outdoor haircuts I did in the parking lot behind that salon when I was only able to offer outdoor haircuts during covid, to the Sola Salon Studios I work at now off Jefferson. There were tough times. When I first started on my own, I would hope to get at least 36 services in a week because if I hit that number I would be making a little more than I did at Alexanders for Hair, now I usually do around 65-70 haircuts a week and if I had a week where I only did 36 I would start trying to figure out what happened. Halfway through the ten years the Covid lockdowns happened and I was unable to work do to the restrictions, and then when I was allowed to cut hair again I had to do it in the parking lot behind the salon. Even when they allowed people to start working indoors again I had to stay outside because we had to be at 25% capacity and in a four chair salon that is only one person. The woman I rented a chair from cut mostly women’s hair so she needed access to the shampoo bowls to wash hair before her haircuts and to rinse out color and other chemical services so I stayed outside since I only do men’s haircuts. At first it was fun cutting hair outside, but the novelty wore off fast, especially when it started to get hot. I never envisioned myself cutting hair in a tank top and shorts when I first got into the industry, and knew I had to be looking ragged at the end of some of those hot days because people would say things like, “Thank you for doing this” after I finished their haircuts. I ended up cutting hair outside for a full year until I could start working in the salon again and six months after that I moved across Sepulveda Blvd to where my salon is now, in the Sola Salon Studios. I’ve been working in Sola for a little over three years now and really enjoy having my own private suite and I would only consider moving if everything is perfect because it’s so easy in the shop I’m in now. Perfect would mean the salon being in the same area in Culver City, affordable price, good parking, etc. I’m not even looking, nor have I been in case anyone was getting worried. Every once a while when I’m out and about in the West LA - Culver City area I’ll see a for rent sign in an empty salon or barbershop and I’ll do some research and it doesn’t come close to being as good as where I’m cutting hair right now.

2017 in Hair

As 2017 comes to a close, I thought I would take a look back at the year in men's hair. I haven't had as many opportunities to blog as much as the past, but I'm out of the salon for a few days for the holiday. 

At least for the guys that come in to get their hair cut by me, the undercut is still king. This is easily the most requested haircut in the salon. It's a great looking cut, has been in fashion for years now, and I think part of the reason for so many men requesting undercuts from me is that I have more pictures of that particular haircut than any other on Yelp, Instagram, and my website so my numbers my be skewed a little. I tend to fade my undercuts, because of that it makes for a good picture from the front and the side--while scissor haircuts can be pretty uninteresting from the side view. That leads to twice as many undercut pictures. I'm trying to get better about taking more pictures of the haircuts I do.

The number one haircut girlfriends have been sending guys in with pictures of is Ryan Gosling's haircut. There wasn't one picture that everyone brought in, but a few different lengths. All of them were long enough on top where the hair could be parted to the side and fall over (as opposed to spike up) and the sides were long enough to where the hair could be pushed back. This haircut looks great at a few lengths, so you could get one of the shorter versions of the cut and have it grow into how he wears it when it's longer. You could even come in for the hairline clean up service I offer ($10) and get the sideburns neatened, back tapered, and neck trimmed so your hair doesn't look sloppy as it grows out to keep your hair looking its best. 

This year I've also seen classic barbering come back into style--men getting their hair cut with a shorter clipper blade and short on top as well. Some guys like the look because it's low maintenance at home. These usually get the hair cut finger length or just a little longer on top. Others just like the classic, clean look or have really thick hair on the sides and need the clippers to rid some of the bulk. 

I get a decent amount of guys with long hair coming in to the salon as well. For this blog, when I say "long hair" I'm talking about any hair that touches the collar or longer. While I do see a lot of guys with this length of hair, I think I would see more if I had more pictures of longer haired men.  I didn't really take  a lot when we first moved to Culver City--when we were in west LA I had a great spot with a neutral background inside Sola to take pictures of my haircuts, and I'd been trying to find a spot at the new salon. The best spot I could think of would be in front of the brick wall at the bank, but no one (including myself) wants to run across the street and dodge traffic on Sawtelle to get their picture taken. I settled on just taking pics at the chair in the salon after I do my detailing and get the hair styled.

Overall, it was a great 2017 at the salon. We left Sola in west LA and moved to Culver City in February. In the hair industry moving is really stressful because there is no way to tell who is going to follow you, especially with the traffic in Los Angeles. I saw a dip in the amount of haircuts I did in the first month we were at the salon, but things really picked up as I got going and I ended up having over 50% growth for the year. I'd like to thank everyone who followed me, and all of the new people I've met while working in the Culver City salon for making this year one of the best. 

On to 2018!!

Tim

What's New in Men's Hair for 2017?

That's a good question. With 2016 almost over, I've been looking for the best answer to that on different men's fashion websites, blogs, instagram posts, and a few youtube videos. I clicked on a link that said long hair will be in and the new thing, but then when I got to the article it was all pictures of guys with fades and undercuts. I have a client who I've been giving an undercut to for a few years now, and at the beginning of 2016 he was looking for something new, checked a few websites, and found the same thing as me--that undercuts were the "new" thing for 2016. I'm not knocking the haircut, it's one of favorites to cut in the salon (and one of the best looking haircuts in my opinon, I was just using that example to make the point that men's haircuts don't change too much over time. I mean guys are still getting a haircut make popular by Julius Caesar. One thing I have noticed about the current trend for men's hair is that anything goes, which could explain why that particular haircut has lasted so long. When you can do whatever you want nothing (which exception to avant garde styles) really goes out of style. I don't know about other places, but in Los Angeles you can feel free to get that trendy undercut, grow your hair long, get a business/professional haircut, or pretty much anything you can think of. As long as it's cut properly and put together, your hair will look its best.

Why West LA

People often ask me why I chose to cut hair in west Los Angeles instead of a place in the valley since I live in Woodland Hills, or why I just didn't move to west LA in the first place. When I was living in Iowa and looking for an apartment, almost everyone I contacted wanted me to visit their office in person before they would rent to me. The place I live at now let me do everything through email and fax, which worked out best for me. When I first came to Los Angeles, I didn't have a job or anything. After applying and interviewing with a few different places all around LA, I chose to work at Alexander's for Hair salon because of their male clientle, since I had only been cutting men's hair for a few years at this point and felt if I wanted to start doing women's hair again that it would be best to assist for a while to bring me back to speed on the latest techniques and trends. After working there for five years, a lot of guys were concerned that I would take a job closer to where I live, but in this industry, to start cutting hair at a salon that far away from where I had been working would be basically starting over since most men wouldn't drive from the west LA area out to the valley to get a haircut. That's the reason we picked the studio we did when we moved, this is the closest one to the old salon. Traffic sucks driving all the way from Woodland Hills, but I have a few podcasts I like to listen to on the way here to pass the time and I genuinely like working in west LA, being on Wilshire with all of the different places I can walk to to grab something to eat, and I know I've been saying this for years, but eventually I'll move to the westside.