Every year for the past 18 years, Jeff “JP” Patterson, owner of JP Hair Design, gathers local barbers together in August with the goal of providing 1,000 free haircuts to Madison-area kids to get them ready for their first day of school at the annual JP Hair Design’s Back 2 School Free Haircutz. This year’s event will be held at the Alliant Energy Center on Sunday, Aug. 23, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
“We’re looking to give 1,000 haircuts on Sunday. That’s the number that we shoot for every year, and this year we are hoping to reach it,” Patterson, the host of the annual event, tells Madison365. “We did 750 haircuts last year and that was our highest total so far.”
Students are encouraged to visit this website and register to get their hair cut at a certain time of the day on Sunday.
“We start at 10 a.m. We have 150 available spots at 10 o’clock, another 150 at 11, and another 150 at noon and so on. We encourage people to call or to go online and register and pick out an arrival time,” Patterson says. “And whatever that arrival time they choose, that’s what time they get there. There is never a long wait because everybody’s not coming at one time. So at 10 o’clock we have a flow. We’ll knock them out and then the 11 o’clock kids will come, and so on. It’s just a really easy flow through the day.”
It takes a lot of coordination to pull together barbers and stylists from about 15 licensed barbershops throughout Madison, who all chip in their time and effort to help the students look their best for their first day of school.
“What’s awesome about our community of barbers here is that we work together. In most cities you go to, you have barbershops and barbers competing against each other and sometimes, talking bad about each other,” Patterson says. “But in Madison and the surrounding areas, we are a unique group of barbers that champion each other.
“So on Sunday, you’ll see at least 15 different barbershops participating in this event, along with some students from Madison College and other people who can cut hair that’s looking to get in the industry,” Patterson adds. “I let them cut with us, and then sometimes they end up getting a job with one of the barber owners that’s at the event. They end up bringing them in or putting them in an apprenticeship. So it’s definitely a positive event.”
The Back 2 School Free Haircutz is for children in grades K-12. An appointment ticket is preferred for kids to get their hair cut. Patterson says the JP Hair Design’s Back 2 School Free Haircutz event is for basic cuts only: even cuts, fades, Afros, mohawks, tapers, and hairlines. No designs, he adds.
“We’ve got DJ Terrence J at the event. He’ll be coming to play music and keep everything going. We have 93.1 Jamz [radio station]. They’ll be there, giving out backpacks and school supplies,” Patterson says. “We will have the Dave County Immunization Coalition giving out vaccines to students, ages five to 18, and then if they get the vaccine, they get a gift card for shoes.”
The event has come a long way from its humble beginnings. That first year of JP Hair Design’s Back 2 School Free Haircutz took place at JP Hair Design on Madison’s West Side and Patterson estimates that they gave haircuts to about 200 students.
“Back in the day when we first started this, we would be giving out tickets at the 100 Black Men of Madison backpack giveaway [at Demetral Park], or we would be passing them out at Penn Park,” Patterson remembers. “But now we got everything digital, so everybody can just go online and go to the site and choose what time they want to come in until that timeslot fills up. We have definitely become a well-oiled machine.
(Photo by Hedi Lamarr Photography)
“We started growing as the barbers branched out of the shop, and with me building relationships with other barber shops. We started asking those barbers to come to J.P. Hair Design for the free haircuts event,” Patterson adds. “At year 13 is where we took off and expanded to the Alliant Energy Center and then we just invited tons of different other barbers. It just became this great event where we all champion each other.”
A major part of the event each year is the presentation of the Smitty Scholarship. Taylor “Smitty” Smith, Madison’s first Black barber, was a legendary and inspirational pioneer in the barbering profession who also served as a mentor to Patterson. Smith passed away in 2016 at age 92, leaving behind a legacy that spanned more than six decades in the barbering business.
“We give out a scholarship, the Smitty Taylor Apprenticeship Scholarship, for an individual to go into barbering through apprenticeship. Smitty was our first Black barber of Madison,” Patterson says. “He passed in 2016, and when that happened, we created a scholarship in his name. So that scholarship provides $2,500 to the recipient, and that pays for their schooling, their books, and equipment for them to use in the barbershop. I think this is our sixth or seventh apprentice that we’ll be giving a scholarship out to. So that’s also given out at the event and it’s just another great part of the day.”
The Back 2 School Free Haircutz event will be held in partnership with the Ingold Family Foundation, which helps young people achieve their dreams by providing education, inspiration, support, and access to opportunity.
“I like that the community can see a group of barbers come together. We all dress alike and we have a team jersey, and people see us work together. I like that. I like that the kids get a nice haircut,” Patterson says. “They feel good. They look good, and then I love to see the smiles on the parents’ faces
“I like the partnerships we have with the different sponsors. It’s beautiful to see them coming together, believing in our quest to give back with free haircuts,” he adds.
