A first-person excerpt from a YouTube video where the speaker (James Laughlin) describes how cutting hair and listening to male clients fostered emotional connection and healing. The barber chair served as a confessional space where men shared shame, trauma, and relationship struggles; through these conversations the speaker learned how to be a better father and partner.
I had my preconceived ideas. This guy, you know, he wore a suit. He didn't look like me, didn't talk like me. But when I heard his story, like, he also struggled with shame. He also had his own pain and trauma that he didn't talk about. And these men were gifting me stories that they had never told their wives, their partners, their parents. And so I thought, man, like, the simple act of cutting her hair, the power of just cutting hair and connecting with men, was healing for myself. You know, it was in the chair where I learned how to be a father, asking dads, you know, what were your failings? Or, what did you do wrong? How can I be better? It was in the chair where I learned how to be a good partner. You know, how do you treat your woman.
