Barbershops are spaces where men shoot the breeze, hang with friends and get a trim. Thanks to a new Case Western Reserve University program, it’s where they’ll be able to learn about prostate cancer by year’s end.

In Cuyahoga County, Black men have a disproportionate risk of being diagnosed and dying from prostate cancer as compared to white men. Researchers at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center are addressing this health disparity with a community-based program that will disseminate prostate cancer information in the Black community through barbershops.

CWRU’s Cleveland African American Prostate Cancer Project received a new $2.75 million, three-year grant from the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation, the university said.

Cancer of the prostate gland — a small, walnut-shaped organ that produces fluid that nourishes and transports sperm — is the second-leading cause of death in American men, behind lung cancer. There will be nearly 250,000 new cases diagnosed n 2021, and about 34,000 deaths, the American Cancer Society estimates.

The Cleveland African American Prostate Cancer Project will train community navigators to visit participating barbershops to pave the way for the businesses to host prostate cancer educational events,said prostate cancer project director Erika Trapl. Attendees will be encouraged to get a prostate cancer screening from their regular doctor.

Urban Kutz Barbershops owner Waverly Willis began encouraging conversations about diet and health years ago, when he realized he was losing clients who refused to go to a doctor until it was too late. “(Men) don’t go to the doctor unless something is falling off,” said Willis, who is a member of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center Community Advisory Board and executive director of the Urban Barber Association nonprofit group.

Now the conversation in his two Urban Kutz barbershop locations are just as likely to be about veggie recipes and the Keto diet as the Browns and Cavs, he said. Willis wants to get a clinic mobile unit to visit his barbershops to run prostate cancer screenings as part of the CWRU initiative.

“Barbershops are one of the most trusted institutions in our community,” Willis said. “Cancer affects all of us in some way, shape or fashion. I just want to change the conversation.”

Community education events in barbershops will start at the end of the year, if it’s safe to hold in-person events by then. Trapl plans to look for additional funding to allow the education and screening program to continue beyond its initial three years.

She hopes the barbershop outreach program will make it more normal for men to discuss the illness. She finds it curious that men wear pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness, even though they are much more likely to get prostate cancer.

“It doesn’t get talked about,” Trapl said about prostate cancer. “I think there is a growing recognition we need to elevate it as a discussion, because as soon as we do that, having that discussion in a barbershop doesn’t seem quite as weird.”

A new vintage-themed Diesel Barbershop opened in April at CityLine, Richardson. The business, located at 1150 State St., Ste. 170, Richardson, is described as “part barbershop, part salon, part old school record store, part mechanics garage and part vintage arcade,” according to a news release. The local franchise is owned by brothers Spencer and Garrett Watkins.

“We knew we wanted to open our new franchise somewhere that was well-populated and exuded excitement, and CityLine fits those qualities perfectly,” Garrett Watkins said in a statement.

“With great restaurants and really cool live events, there’s always something going on at CityLine, and it’s definitely a place we want to be. We are excited for the opportunity to bring our barbershop to this area of Richardson.”

In addition to haircuts, the shop will offer shampoo service, scalp massage, hot-towel face treatment, back of the neck shave and relaxing shoulder massage, among other services.

www.dieselbarbershop.com/location/cityline

The Boston barber who accidentally stabbed himself with scissors in February has recovered from his injuries and returned to work.

Steve Silva, who cuts hair at Boston Barber Co. on Beacon Hill. said: “I’m happy to be back, it’s good to see my customers and everyone I work with.”

Silva, 30, who lives in Wilmington, was cutting a customer’s hair at the barber shop on Feb. 12 when he slipped and fell on his scissors.

“The floor was a little wet from me spraying the kid’s hair…and my foot went off the mat and kind of slid away.”

Trying to break his fall, he landed heavily on the pair of shears he was holding, and the scissors plunged into his chest.

At first “I didn’t know I stabbed myself,” he said. “It didn’t hurt too much.”

Silva was bleeding heavily, and his co-worker Sarah Santiago rushed over to help him.

“Sarah, she grabbed paper towels and put pressure on it,” he said. “My customer laid me down.”

Silva said he could have died because the scissors “punctured the sack that your heart sits in” and if they “went in any further, I would’ve actually hit my heart muscle.”

Silva had to undergo open heart surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. He spent about a week in the hospital (at one point, he was in the intensive care unit) and it took him about a month and a half to recover from his injury.

Silva is now back to working at Boston Barber Co. three days a week.

Silva said he was grateful to Robert Dello Russo, the owner of Boston Barber Co., for being so supportive and for helping him out while he recovered from the accident. “He texted me every day,” he said.

He’s also thankful to everyone who donated to the GoFundMe fundraising campaign that was created on his behalf, and for all the well wishes and messages of encouragement that he’s received.

“I’m just grateful for the support,” he said.

For over ten years, Erik Zaiatz, owner of the two locations of Bostonian Barber Shop, has been trying to buy the space at 500 Liberty St. in Hanson, where his grandfather Don Botieri had run his barbershop for decades.

Finally, when the location re-emerged on the market a few weeks ago, Zaiatz saw the chance to buy the space, as a way of keeping his grandfather’s legacy alive. “I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to open there,” he said.

Botieri, a Hanson native, ran Don’s Barbershop from 1950 up until 2008, and passed away a year after his retirement. A staple in the Hanson community, Botieri was known as “Mr. Hanson,” and even has a ballfield in town named for him.

For Zaiatz, most of his childhood was spent in Don’s Barbershop, either getting his own hair cut, or just hanging around after school. All this time spent with his grandfather inspired Zaiatz to get into the barbering industry himself. “If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be in this industry,” he said.   

When he set up to open his first shop, Zaiatz teamed up with his sister Kayla and best friend Matt Penardi, who are both master barbers.

As his third location, Zaiatz made an effort to pay homage to Don’s, in terms of both style and services. With a traditional barbershop feel and design, the now Bostonian Barbershop, offers all the same old school styles and services, such as hot towels, and straight razor shaves.

Now, some of Boteiri’s former clients have returned to the Hanson location, to get their hair cut by their former barber’s grandkids.

Captain Fawcett and BarbersRide has announced the phenomenal opportunity to own a bespoke work of art by the extraordinary Vincent Kamp, one of Britain’s most exciting and distinctive artists. The subject of the painting will be none other than the winner of this competition who will be invited to sit for their own portrait and as such, be forever immortalised in Vincent’s magnificently imagined world.

The competition opens on 28 April, 2021 and closes 30th June, 2021 at 11:59pm GMT.

Just 1,000 tickets will be made available and the winner will be decided by a raffle. Tickets are just £10 each. There is no limit to how many tickets you can buy, so more tickets means more entries and more chances of winning! All monies raised will be donated to Make-A-Wish.

Vincent Kamp will pick the winner out of a hat live on Instagram TV (date TBC).

This astounding competition is open to all, across the globe. However, the initial photographic studies for the painting will take place at Captain Fawcett’s HQ in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, UK.

All monies raised will be donated to the 2021 BarbersRide Charity Appeal for Make-A-Wish. By entering the draw, you will actively support their excellent work helping make dreams come true for seriously ill children and their families.

Vincent Kamp is known for sequences of highly cinematic paintings that tell a powerful tale. Populating his dark, gritty underground world of urban subculture, friends of the Captain Fawcett will recognise familiar faces, including Fawcett Ambassador Maxwell Newton. Vincent’s esteemed work is of such calibre & high renowned that original paintings sell for upwards of £10K. Good Lord! 

To enter this competition to raise funds for charity, click here.

Brian Hogan, a father of two, barbershop owner, and film buff in Des Moines, Iowa, found himself fairly miserable in the midst of the pandemic. With his Barbershop business all but obliterated, Brian was looking for a project to keep his sanity.

That’s when he heard that his favourite, childhood video store, Video Warehouse, was going out of business after 34 years.

Buying out the contents of the video store, including the shelves and the ‘Tape Return” sign,  Brian embarked on the DIY project to create an in-house video store.

He said, “I spent a lot of days sitting in my chair hoping people would come and get their hair cut. I’d go home and catalogue and start hanging shelves. It took my mind off things.”

With no intension of setting the video store as a business, Brian explained: “It’s more of a time capsule,” meant for family and friends, he said. “Friends who come over get to pick out a movie and we watch it.”

 He continued: “I spent a good part of my childhood in the video store. That was a Friday night thing. You didn’t just go to the video store. You went to the video store.”

Barbers in London are being trained to test the blood of customers to help combat high blood pressure.

Run by London South Bank University, the project was set out in order to raise awareness of high blood pressure, specifically in Black and Asian men, who are statistically more likely to have undiagnosed high blood pressure.

So far, eight barbershops in South London, Croydon, Mitcham, Thornton Heath, Bromley and South Norwood, have signed up to provide on-the-spot checks for customers, which began on Monday.

The idea came from a similar project that took place in Los Angeles between 2016 and 2018. The US project ran from 2016 to 2018 and 68% of people found to have high blood pressure ended the study with healthy levels.

High blood pressure affects more than one in four adults in England, accounts for more than one in 10 visits to GPs and contributes to 75,000 deaths every year – but millions of people are thought to go undiagnosed.

Hugh Benain, from Finishing Touches in Mitcham, said the project could help save lives.

“We’ll be offering our customers on-the-spot blood pressure tests and health information for them to take away,” he said.

“High blood pressure is a silent killer and providing tests and information from our barbershop could save lives.”

Nicola Thomas, an LSBU professor, said: “Sadly, millions of adults in the UK have high blood pressure and half are undiagnosed which can lead to strokes or heart attacks.

“It is the trusting relationship that customers have with their barbers that is so important – we need to take healthcare out into the community.”

With great hair comes great responsibility – at least that’s what the team at leading men’s grooming brand The Bluebeards Revenge believes. That’s why they’ve worked around the clock to launch a brand new range of zero waste shampoo bars for men!

This new range has been developed especially with eco-conscious men in mind, providing a plastic-free alternative to bottled shampoos. In fact, every bar saves the use of two plastic bottles, which is particularly important considering it’s now estimated that Brits throw away around 520 million shampoo bottles every year.

Launching on April 27, this new vegan friendly range features a trio of solid shampoos with three unique fragrances to choose from – Classic, Cuban and Original. Each of these SLS and paraben free bars are enriched with coconut oil to provide vital hydration to damaged hair, while effortlessly washing away build ups of dirt, sweat and styling products.

On the release of these small-but-mighty bars, Brad Wicks, Head of Marketing at The Bluebeards Revenge, said: “As a brand, we’re really proud of the steps we’re taking to create a more eco-friendly range for our customers.

“At the beginning of 2020, we made it our mission to improve the recyclability of our products, with a goal to drastically reduce the amount of virgin plastic and single-use packaging we use by 2022. The launch of our new 100% plastic-free Shampoo Bars not only shows our determination to meet this goal, but our commitment to continue improving for the future.”

The search is on for the Barber Of The Year 2021, as the Professional Barber World Series announces a brand new competition aimed at finding the best in the business.

The competition which is sponsored by Dapper Dan, with BarberEVO as proud media partners, is calling all barbers to sharpen their scissors and enter this prestigious competition.

Competition organisers said: “After an uncertain year for the industry, it is finally time to pick up the scissors once more and get snipping. With this in mind, what better time to introduce a brand new photographic competition for all barbers worldwide? The Professional Barber World Series is designed as a springboard for all barbers looking to hone their skills and test their talents against the best in the business. Judged by industry stalwarts and highly qualified educators, this simply can’t be missed. Top prizes and media coverage for all winners and runners up.

The competition has three categories:

UK BARBER OF THE YEAR

INTERNATIONAL BARBER OF THE YEAR

YOUNG BARBER OF THE YEAR

Prizes include a DSLR camera, Barberblades vouchers up to £500; BarberEVO front cover photoshoot; a five day Sid Sottung Academy Course; up to £400 in Nearcut credit.

MEET THE JUDGES:

Sid Sottung: international educator with 30+ years in the business, 20+ years in education and Global Andis educator.

Baldy: Owner of Baldy’s Barbers, Andis International European Lead educator.

Simon May: Dapper Dan founder, 20+ years barbering, owner of Wolf & Co Barbers

Brandi Lashay: Owner of the Barber Doll House LLC, 24+ years in the industry, BaByliss Barberology Platform educator.

Colin Petrie: Founder of Hard Grind barbershops, 10+ years in the industry, part of the American Crew Elite Team, Matakki Scissors Ambassador.

Tyrik Jackson: CEO Premier Barber Institute and Sharper Image Barbers, international educator.

Follow @probarber_wordseries on Instagram or @probarberworldseries on Facebook for up to the minute updates on this not to be missed competition.

At long last, our friends in Northern Ireland are able to get back to work, as the barbering/ salon industry opens back up. 

As of today, Friday April 23, Barbers, hairdressers, and other close contact services are allowed to reopen across Northern Ireland.

“It has been a rollercoaster, so it has!” said Barber, Matthew Postlethwaite. “Not knowing when we were going to open, waiting to open, and just really praying that we can back to work ASAP.

“So it is just a big relief to be getting back!”

Best of luck from Barber EVO to all out friends in Northern Ireland!