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Victor Masagca , 44,  Vic for short, is from Calabanga, Camarines Sur. Vic moved to Manila in 1986. A self-taught barber, he has been cutting hair for 30 years. He now works part time at his brother Jed’s Barber Shop. Vic has four children and has an 18-year-old son taking up criminology course in Cainta. When asked about an interesting story as a barber, Vic narrated a tale about a barber who slits an arrogant policeman’s neck after refusing to pay his haircut. The barber is still on the run, he said. He attends to 15-40 people a day. He once cut 60 heads for 16 hours straight. He splits his 40 peso fee 30-10 sharing with his brother.

 

Jonas Hallare, 30, is originally from Pili,Camarines Sur. The community refers to him as “Bob Marley”, because of his dreadlocks. Jonas Barber Shop is adorned with posters and his painting of Jamaican reggae singer, Bob Marley. His favorite Marley song “No Woman, No Cry” often blares through the shop. Jonas has been cutting hair for seven years. His aunt, who owns a hair salom, taught him tonsorial skills. Jonas rents his shop for 4,500 pesos and attends to 15 customers a day, attending to 45-50 heads on weekends. His record figure is 60 customers in one day. He also offers his dreadlocking services at a 100 pesos per dreadlock. He said a person usually needs about 40 dreadlocks, so that is a cool 4,000 pesos, if he is lucky. Jonas still smiles recalling the customers he has accidentally wounded with a razor blade, when he was just starting. He is married to Vanessa and has a two-year-old son named Amhir Floyd.

Denie Bulantahan, 32, Denie for short,  is from Lantapan, Bukidnon. He has been a barber for 14 years. He has two sons age 3-years-old and 2-months-old. He was inspired by his older brother who is also a barber.  He pays 6,000 pesos rent which included electricity and water bills. He makes about 400-500 pesos a day and more on Sundays. He gets 15 pesos for each customer cut by his partner Ronald Betonio, nickname Along who is 26 years old. Along has 2-year-old twin boys. He started snipping hair in 2010 in Pilar, Bohol. He practised by cutting locks of willing relatives. He said he asks customers about their preferred style or cut and limits conversation with them. Dennis & Ronald Barber Shop was opened after Denie and Along had a bad experience with their former employer. They claimed that the owner used to add a few headcount to the actual jobs they performed. When their employer tried to cheat them again, they left the shop and started their own.

 

Bryan Ramos Tula, 21, from Tukananes, Cotabato province in Mindanao. Bryan was a first year high school student in 2007 when he started cutting hair for his nephews and cousins. He also cut his friends hair for free. He moved to Taguig last August 2015 where he started getting paid to cut hair, at Lie’s Barber Shop fronted by a stall selling fresh chicken meat, innards and feet. Bryan finished high school but he did not complete his university course in Agriculture. He continued to work as a wedding events stage designer and later sought greener pastures in Manila.  He is the youngest of four kids. He shares 20/20 pesos with the owner and can cut at least 15 persons a day. Bryan, who is a Muslim, occasionally discusses religion with his fellow barber and customers. Admittedly, he shared he sometimes gets complaints from customers who are not happy with his haircut. “You cannot please everyone,” he said.

 

Dexter Mercado, 44, known as Dex, is from Floridablanca, Pampanga. He has been a barber for 15 years. He started out being self-taught cutting hair of soldiers inside Fort Bonifacio, but eventually got a diploma in hairstyling and coloring. He has five children and has a 19-year-old Information Technology graduate. His youngest is only one-year-and-three-months old. He rents his tiny two by two meter space for 1,500 pesos. It’s called Dexter Cabalen Barber Shop. He attends from 20 to 50 customers a day. He once cut 60 customers’ hair. He said he shares jokes, gossips, and political stories with customers especially during the recent presidential election.

Roberto Napa, 35, known as Dondon, is from Leyte. He works with Danilo Labo Jr. otherwise known as J.R., 21, from Cauayan, Isabela. Their shop, Jeff Barbers is owned by Dondon’s brother-in-law. Dondon stopped schooling to work and help his siblings go to school. JR and Dondon pay 2,500 peso rent and split the 40 pesos charge 50/50 with the owner. Dondon started cutting hair two years ago and is self taught. He used to be a supermarket sales associate and also worked at Megamall as a sales clerk. He finished a two-year computer programming course. He used to earn 30,000 pesos a month as a machine operator at a Snowbear candy factory but was never made permanent due to contractualization. He now supports his wife and three kids, ages 8, 4 and 5 months. He attends to 10 to 22 customers a day. On the other hand, JR was taught by his mother seven years ago and he later shared his know-how with his two younger brothers to cut hair. J.R. is the second of 9 children. J.R. narrates a time when he asked a friend, who has no cutting experience, to help cut the hair of another walk-in. The customer had no idea what was going on as J.R.’s fake barber friend was doing an acceptable shearing. So in the middle of the job, J.R. took over the haircut and finished it. J.R. laughed out loud when he recalled the incident.