It's the story of a hairdresser, a failed buzzcut and a disappointed client.
An explosive cocktail with more than 30 million views on TikTok.
An exposure that did not panic Junior, the hairdresser behind the clippers in this bad advertisement: “I like cameras.
The fact that there was this buzz, I don't take it as a 'bad buzz',” explains the employee of Marac'house in the 17th arrondissement of Paris.
According to “JR Golden Hands”, his nickname on social networks, the incomprehension does not come from the quality of his cut, but from the skin color of his client.
The “buzzcut” with its close-cropped hair style and marked contours, is according to him a hairstyle usually worn by black people.
Seeing a young white man named Gaethan wearing this cut would be at the origin of this controversy.
Junior's goal is to reduce the gap between cultures and that everyone can adopt a style without barriers “There are no black cuts, there are no white cuts”.
The barberbshop trend
The barbershop, born in working-class neighborhoods in the United States, has become a real trend in France.
In Paris, there are already more than fifty.
The difference with traditional salons is the more original haircuts: “What differentiates us from other hair salons is that we do lots of things that they don’t do,” assures the hairdresser.
Burst Fade, Spanish Gradient, Crest or Taper… These popular hairstyles in barbershops often come from social networks, and each customer waits their turn with a reference photo on their phone.
Also read “There’s something for everyone”: cheaper than a salon, this hairdressing school attracts customers
Weakened by the Covid crisis, traditional salons are trying to position themselves on the “barber” trend.
Like Franck Provost who created his own barber brand, The Barber Company.
According to figures from the Altares firm, hairdressing salon bankruptcies are clearly increasing.
From January 1 to June 30, 2023, 602 liquidation, receivership and safeguard procedures were opened before the commercial courts, an increase of 49% compared to the same period of 2022, and even 181% compared to to 2021.
What we come to look for in barbers is above all an atmosphere, thinks Junior: “It’s a place where you tell your life story, your barber is stylish, that’s really what barbershop madness is all about,” argues the hairdresser. to 600,000 subscribers.
In this living room, we hear the sound of lawnmowers against the background of rap hits projected on speakers.
The hairdressers are young, dressed in streetwear, sometimes tattooed and speak a familiar language with the customers.
On-the-job training
The 25-year-old hairdresser has no training, he learned on YouTube, by practicing on his friends "I paid my friends Greeks and McDonald's to do their hair."
A way for him to have heads on which to practice, because no one trusted him, he explains.
When he started, the results were not there: “At the time I was really a butcher!
“, he says, bursting out laughing.
As for the victim of the “buzzcut”, young Gaethan decided to laugh about it and surfed on his failed cut successfully.
The young man opened a TikTok account which already has more than 100,000 subscribers since the controversy.
He shows second degree on his cut "Even if with a caliber on my head, I wouldn't go back" but he still recommends going to Marac'house to have your hair done by the now legendary "JR Golden Hands.”