Ali Alhashemi has a gift for making balding men look their best. You can't go on Twitter without coming across viral clips of puppies being cute while being dumb. Or fat guys falling off chairs. But every now and then, you'll happen upon a clip where you actually learn something. That's just what happened when my feed was populated with a short video that started with a man with thinning hair and an unkempt beard sitting in a barber's chair and ended with that same guy looking a hell of a lot better. A strategic cut and a Bieber beat drop later the man was seemingly no longer bald, while his beard was satisfyingly cleaned up (if over-shaped). The before and after was impressive enough to make me question the video entirely. There was no in-process part of the clip. Was this bait-and-switch editing magic? The source of the grooming wizardry could be traced back to @barberal313 (real name: Ali Alhashemi), a Detroit-based barber who doesn't just give a good chop; the man appears to doll out follicle-saving haircuts for his customers.
I reached out to "Barber Al," as he's known to customers, to find out more about his mastery of fade techniques that result in balding guys looking, well, not bald. He did that, but during our conversation , also revealed a backstory that's richer and deeper than what comes across on his EDM-backed social media posts. Okay, so, how did you fix that one guy's thinning hair? Was it just the way you cut it? In my city, no one can do what I do. But first, I trimmed the hair down. When you leave it long, it actually leaves room to see spacing between the hair and shows the scalp. Then I added a little bit of color application or dye on the hair and even some on his scalp, which obviously doesn't bring his hair back, but his scalp isn't showing as much. The process last about two to two-and-a-half weeks, and it's important to maintain the short hair because if the hair is too long it will start to move around and you'll see the dye on the scalp. How did he react to it? I kid you not, tears came to his eyes.
He told me it was the best haircut he's ever gotten in his life. Helping people and giving them confidence is really what makes me love my job. People don't just sit on my chair to get a haircut. It's an experience and they know that. They know I can help they make them look the best they've ever looked. How many people have you helped who are losing their hair? Well, it first started with a client who came in after doing chemotherapy. He felt really insecure about his hair, but he had seen my Instagram page so he came in. Other barbers would have just not taken the time to figure out how to make his hair look full and would have just done it quick or whatever. I had him guide me in the direction and style he wanted it, but I cut the sides down to emphasize the hair on top. On the top, I clean it up but again I also added the color treatment and blow dried it. When you blow dry hair, it gives it volume. Once I did that and saw his reaction, it inspired me to do more of this kind of haircut.
Did you have other clients going through chemotherapy come in because of that first client? The biggest thing I see actually is alopecia, which is just like a random bald spot. Most of the time I can fix that, like if the spot is on the back of their head, is just to go with the zero fade on the sides and back. I actually did a haircut giveback a few months ago, where I gave free haircuts to people with thinning hair or people who were in chemo. There were about 21 people waiting outside the shop to get in. But I guess that's just how it starts. You cut one guy's hair and then they tell their friends. When did you first start cutting hair? I started cutting hair at 14-years-old. I was tired of getting my hair messed up by the barbers in Dearborn [Michigan]. I would let the barber cut my hair, but then I would go home and fix it myself in the mirror. My dad saw what I did and said I should try doing it for others. So I started cutting hair out of my garage and telling people about it, charging $5 for a cut.
Little by little, the whole block started coming to the point I had to open a shop of my own, where I now charge $40. My father passed away that same year, so I started doing it full time to provide income for my mom. And I was doing it so much that I couldn't make it to school or go to college like I wanted to. How many employees are at the shop now? I started with just two stations. I did expect growth, but never thought it would come this fast. Almost three years later I have six barbers and six stations, with three more barbers that are waiting for more stations to be built so they can work as well. Do you want to go back to school someday? My goal is to one day go back to school and finish my degree in business. I did one semester before, but until than, I will continue to run the city's busiest, most modern day barbershop, Uppercutz. How has social media helped get the word out? I've gotten so many clients from social media that now I'm booked a month in advance. Being a barber honestly has changed my life.
When I first started out I took the bus to work. Now I'm driving my favorite car, a Mercedes S550. Who are most of your customers? Are you an expert at cutting different types of hair of all different ethnicities? Most of the clients are definitely from the Arabic community, because I grew up in an Arabic city. But a little bit after I started cutting hair I got a job at a barber shop more in Detroit that had mostly African American clients, so I learned how to cut their hair, too. So the Arabic clients were the guys who knew me personally and then the neighborhood guys started coming to me, too. I was an expert on cutting silky smooth Arabic hair first, but then also became an expert on African American hair. So now I can cut anything since I've cut the silkiest and the roughest. I see you have some clients from the Detroit Lions now. How did that happen? One of the players found me through Instagram. Afterwards he told me the team needs a barber because they go to barbers that just charge a lot, but don't actually do a good job.
They told me the barbers they go to don't know how to get down with the zero fade like I do, or do the sharp hairline like I do. I cut Stefan Charles' [defensive tackle for the Lions] hair and gave him the hairline with the color application and beard line with the color application. His mind was blown. What are some of the most popular haircut styles people request these days? Probably a zero-fade combover. So basically bald on the sides faded up to the top for a kind of modern pompadour look. I see you often razor the part to make it extremely defined, too. Yeah, some people get fancy with it too, and want like a swirl or something. But most just want a sharp, clean line. How do you feel about the new, "old timey" barbershops that have become a huge trend in America? I think they're just giving credit to the big dogs. That said, they hardly use any old school methods from back in the days, but it's still a sign of respect to the craft. I like it and think every shop should have an antique of some sort or at least something to represent the older days.