Barbershops and hair salons across the country have temporarily closed in an effort to help slow the spread of coronavirus. For African-American barbers and hairstylists in Madison, the loss of business and revenue has been especially devastating.
“We closed before everybody else did. I remember it was Wednesday, March 18. I had called a staff meeting on that Monday and we decided as a group to limit the people in the shop,” says Jeff “JP” Patterson, owner of JP Hair Design on Madison’s west side. “On Tuesday, the number of people affected was rising. By, Wednesday, I was like, ‘We need to shut down.’ I didn’t feel good about it.
“I was struggling because all the other barbershops were still open,” he adds. “I’m looking at my guys and they were looking at me like ‘Really?’ But my gut feeling was that we had to be responsible.”
On March 20, Gov. Tony Evers came out and said all barbershop, salons, studios are closed as of 5 p.m.
“Man, I’m telling you that all of the pressure lifted off my shoulders,” Patterson remembers. “When everybody had to quit and stop, now it’s looking like we made the right decision two days before. It was tough on me to make that decision but it was the right decision.”
JP Hair Design, which is now Madison’s largest Black barbershop, was first started by Patterson back in 1998. As it grew, he moved the barbershop to its current westside location and expanded it to a full-service barbershop with 10 chairs. Patterson has served on the state Cosmetology Examining Board, as well as the state Barbering Advisory Committee, where he served as chair. He has also taught Men’s Haircutting, State Laws and Sales and Marketing at Madison College.
“At first, it was bittersweet. You know I’m a busy guy – from teaching at Madison College to coaching to following my kids through sports and running the shop,” Patterson says. “When everything first happened, I finally got a chance to just stop. I don’t have to worry about the shop, chasing my kids around. This is great. There are things that I need to get done.
“After a couple weeks – week 3, week 4, I’m like, ‘Let’s look at this financially.’ And I’m looking at my clients. I’m thinking about my staff and I’m a little worried about that,” Patterson adds. “And I’m looking at what it’s going to look like when we get out of this.”
Beyond the financial ramifications, community members are also missing out on the community aspect of not being at barbershops and beauty salons, which provide a unique social function. For JP’s Hair Design, which also houses the Rebalanced-Life Wellness Association (RLWA)’s Men’s Health and Education Center, an innovative partnership that promotes good health for African-American men here in Madison, the shutdown has even more consequences.
“It’s tough. Because a lot of people depended on getting to see the Edgewood College nurses or to see Aaron [Perry, founder of Rebalanced-Life Wellness Association] and talk to us about their health issues or even just get their blood pressure checked,” Patterson says. “Right now is a time when we need to get our blood pressure checked with the stress and the worry about what is going on.
“Even though people can no longer come in, I think it’s important that Aaron [Perry] is still doing these health-related webinars and Facebook Live events. That really helps,” Patterson adds. “We all need this kind of information listening to professionals talking about ways to handle our stress as black men going through this pandemic. We can easily bust a pipe if we don’t manage our stress.”
Patterson can see men’s hair getting longer and sometimes a bit unruly on social media, but he says that he knows that he can’t be the one being out there going house to house cutting hair or having people come to his house during the “stay at home” orders because he is a leader in the community. Patterson says that he worries about the barbershops and salons that have not been around as long as JP Hair Design.
“I’ve had people calling from other shops as they try to figure out what to do during this pandemic. It’s a little tougher for guys that are the earlier stages of opening their shops,” Patterson says. “If this happened to me back in the day, I’d be in the red quick. I think with the years I’ve had, I’ve learned how to save a bit and try to be prepared for something like this.”
The unfortunate part is, Patterson says, is that you don’t know how long it’s going to last.
“Today, I’m able to make payments. But in a couple of months, will I be able to make payments? But everybody is different. I check with my staff all the time to see how they are doing,” he says. “Everybody seems to be doing OK. After what we heard the other day [from Gov. Evers] that we are going to May 26, it might be very different sometime soon.”
Every year, JP Hair Design joins forces with dozens and dozens of barbershops in the Madison areas to give school kids free haircuts so they can look good and feel good for that first day of school. Patterson is looking forward to that uplifting event and is hoping that they will be able to host it.
“I’m continuing to look at the positive as much as I can. When we reopen up, it’s going to be a different shop. It’s going to look different. I’ve been doing some work in there now,” Patterson says. “We’re all going to be wearing masks and there’s only going to be one person in the shop getting serviced at a time. It will be different.
“One good thing is that all of the other barbershops – all of us owners communicate with each other – have been supporting each other and helping each other out,” he adds. “We’re not sure if we’re going to do our annual Back to School haircut event that we all come together and do every year, but we will figure that out as it gets closer. We hope to get everybody back to school in the fall looking good and feeling good.”
