Dryers & Dryer Chairs Shop by Salon Type See our gallery > "The SalonSmart staff is wonderful. They have great customer service. I imagine they deal with large orders worth thousands of dollars. I went there only for a few personal items and Stephen made me feel like I was a major client! I felt he was honest and appreciated his expertise. They are always nice and friendly and will recommend as well as repeat my business when needed." - Donelle @ Ledoux Hair, Tampa, Fl Read more testimonials > Planning on opening a new salon or preparing to undergo a remodel? We can help > on July 22, 2016 at 7:00 AM, updated Six days a week, promptly at 8 a.m., Isaac White Sr. opens the door of his White's Barber College, on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Mobile. At 96, he is "still teaching people how to cut hair to this day," said his niece, Lonna Steele, who works with him. "He does this out of the kindness of his heart." On Sundays, White drives to Stone Street Baptist, the church he has attended since 1945.
This past Sunday, he was surrounded by an entourage of about a dozen students from his barber college, each wearing the school "uniform": a black lab jacket made of material that has white scissors all over it. White, a deacon in the church, was among some 30 "senior saints" - those over 80 years old - recognized at Stone Street's 210th anniversary celebration on Sunday morning. The students came to show support for their beloved mentor. "I forgot my lab coat this morning," said Timothy Edwards, just before the service began. "He made me go all the way home and get it, and tuck my shirt in." White's Barber College in Mobile, Ala. Slightly built and sharply dressed, White moved quickly and nimbly through the maze between the church's fellowship hall and the sanctuary. "He moves faster than we do," observed another student, Deon Ponquinette, noting that White is the same way at the barber college. "He's a hard worker. He keeps us in line," Ponquinette said.
"It's a safe haven for me to go to his school every day. He's a blessing to us." 'Don't catch the devil's ball' White was born to sharecroppers in Wilkerson County, Mississippi, in 1919. During the Great Depression, he joined President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps and became a truck driver. At a work site in Georgia, he started cutting hair in his spare time. Eventually, he had his own tent where other men would come for a haircut. He moved to Mobile in 1942 and went to work as a truck driver at Brookley Air Force Base, working at a barber shop on the side. After a couple of years, he opened his own shop, with just one chair. In 1960, he started his barber college. Today, 56 years later, about 32 students are enrolled at White's, said his niece, who manages the office. At midday Wednesday, five students were hard at work giving haircuts in well-worn barber chairs at the college, which is located in the same place where it was established in 1960.
White's favorite saying is, "Don't catch the devil's ball. He'll strike you out every time." He wants his students to stay focused on their goals, not giving in to any temptations that might impede their progress. Though he speaks softly and has a gentle manner, White practices tough love. He has three rules: Come to school, follow instructions and be honest. Recently, when a student strolled in at 9 a.m., an hour late, White sent him home. "I'm trying to train them for a better life, and to be successful," he explained. A customer won't keep coming back to a no-show barber. When he was young, White promised God that if he would free his soul from the gates of hell, White would "serve him until I die," he said. "The only way to serve him is through people. He made it possible for me to establish this school." He considers his work with the students at his barber school as the God-given mission of his long life. "He put me in a position to work with these young people and turn their lives around," he said.
"The joy I get is seeing them make a U-turn." White likes to say that the only three jobs that "never play out" are "barber, beautician and mortician." "My objective is to put lifetime security in their hands," in the form of the tools of a barber's trade: a comb, scissors, a razor. Once they know how to use them, they'll always have a job. White said that when students have to take out loans to finance their education, they're "behind the eight ball before they start." So at his school, he offers each of his students a conditional grant. The students are responsible for paying for their supplies plus $100 per month in tuition, while White absorbs $575. After they complete the 1,500-hour course, they must secure a job and turn in three work report cards signed by their supervisor over the first three months of their employment. If the reports are satisfactory, he forgives them their debt to him; otherwise, they owe him the full amount he has financed for their training, which comes to $8,100.
"He's investing a lot in every person who comes through here," said Steele. "I don't know anywhere where you can get a skill for $25 a week." Successfully completing the three months of reports is the students' way of thanking him, she said. Every day, White drives to work from his nearby home, dressed in a coat and tie. His son, Isaac White Jr., works as an instructor at the school. His wife of 52 years, Carrie, passed away two years ago. He's almost always the last one to leave the building at 9 p.m., Steele said. "He wouldn't have it any other way. That's what keeps him young." Though he wears a hearing aid, White said he has "no aches and pains." He still drives, usually just to work and to church, and he cooks for himself. He eats beans every day. "He still tries to keep his independence as much as possible," said Steele. "I thank God for the opportunity to minister this way," White said. "I couldn't have done this myself - I'm from backwoods Mississippi.