When You Grow, Others Will Follow

When it ended he said, somewhat reluctantly, “I actually kinda like this guy. You know, he’s got a cool voice, and uh… I don’t know… he just has like a cool style.”

“He’s my spirit animal,” I responded, and left it there.

About a week later we had a Carlos video on the tube. Matteo—who for months previous to this had been struggling with finding a hairstyle he’s comfortable with—came running into the room and was like, “THIS GUY HAS MY DREAM HAIR.”

I whipped out my phone and showed the little smart-ass a photo of me and Carlos Costa, arm-in-arm, smiling for a selfie at the Alliance Conference afterparty (CxBB). “You mean… THIS guy?” He just marveled at the amazing pompadour, “YES. You met him?? And is that not the most amazing head of hair or what?”

I just agreed and questioned nothing.

Then, a week or so later, he once again caught us watching another video and said, “Oh, this is a good one. Jake gives this guy a sick skin fade!”

I was bewildered. “Uh… how do you know that?”

“Because I already saw this one,” he admitted.

“You watch Beardbrand videos now?“ I asked with a sh*t-eater on my face.

He went on. “Ya know, I actually get it. I think I see why you’re into these guys. All the beard models have great beards and hair, you model your beard after Greg’s which is kinda cool, Jake and Mahesh are sick at what they do. I really just like the whole look and feel of their videos. I mean, it’s kind of a cool company. I watch their stuff every day. I get it now.”

I just smiled. Shortly after that, I brought Matteo into Philly to get his hair cut with Jake the Barber, who now cuts his hair regularly.

But that’s not the real story I wanted to share.

Matteo has ADHD, where he struggles mostly with “executive functioning skills.” Without going into the details of what that is if you don’t know, I’ll save you the time and just say that such a deficit translates to poor academic performance. For the longest time he has felt very inadequate and dumb, and has been annually depressed about his academic standing.

He told me a while ago, “Dad, I’ll never make it in college. I’ll never be able to have a nine-to-five, sitting behind a desk. It’ll just never happen. I can’t have a career like that.”

Knowing this about Matteo for many years, I have pushed the trades in my home. So back in the spring, Matteo decided to enroll in the very reputable trade school, here in our district, for this school year.

At the time he made this decision, he decided to pursue the carpentry program, to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, my father-in-law, who is a stone mason from Italy.

As excited and supportive of his decision as I was, it was odd to me, since Matteo never really demonstrated a genuine interest in building or construction or home improvement shows or anything like that. Regardless, we were elated about his trade school decision.

Then, at the end of a day during a particularly wicked heat spell we had here in PA in July, Matteo approached me. He said, “Dad. I have something to tell you.”

“What’s up, buddy?” I asked

“I was walking home from the store and saw a crew of guys working on a house outside. I saw them working on that house in the sun. It was so hot. I realized at that moment—I don’t ever want to do that for a living. I would hate to work out in the heat or the cold. There’s no way. I can’t do it.”

“Ok, bud,” I said. “I mean, I kind of wondered why you chose carpentry in the first place.” He seemed relieved.

“Well, I guess I chose carpentry because I thought you and Mom would be happy about that because I would carry on PopPop’s legacy and all that...”

“Dude,” I interrupted, “I want YOU to do what YOU want to do. Don’t do anything for me or mom, bud! Do you!”

He took a breath. “Well...that’s what I want to tell you. I find myself watching Beardbrand videos all the time. I like, REALLY just love the whole hair styling/beard culture thing. And after getting my haircut with Jake all this time, and seeing what he does and how well he does it, I just think I would be REALLY happy being a barber—where I can be on my feet, talk to people, create my own style and just be me, help people with their style, and start a career in the trades right out of high school like you said. I want to enroll in the Barbering Program.”

So, today is the first day of school in our town, and literally as I type this, my dear, first-born son Matteo is at the trade school on his first day, embarking on a career in barbering. Eric, Sylvester, Greg, Carlos, Jake the Barber, Jack, and the whole gang—please know that the brand and culture you’ve created and the mission you’ve set out on as a company has inspired a fifteen year-old boy struggling to find himself in suburban Pennsylvania to help others “Keep on Growing” through the vocation of barbering. And in taking that first step, he has—for the very first time—truly begun to “grow” himself.

Thank you for that.”