By William Smith
At 20 years old, Derrick Ryce Jr. is his own boss, operating a business he’s been dreaming about since he was old enough to cut hair.
“I got into cutting real early,” he said. “First, I practiced on myself, then I practiced on family members.”
Ryce, the middle child of five boys, gave his first haircut at 11. Nine years later, he’s learned how to pay taxes and supply his business needs on a budget. The hard part is over.
Now, he cuts hair all day. And he loves it. He remembers when he cut his own hair for the first time at the age of 8. It was no random scissors snip. His father stood with him in front of the mirror and showed him how.
“It’s been my favorite thing to do for years now,” he said, noting that mirror training helped him use his non-dominant hand.
About six months ago, Ryce opened up his own barbershop — Jr. Kutz — inside one of the suites at Sade Suites in Burlington. His clientele consists mainly of men and young boys, although his chair is open to anyone.
Ryce’s skills aren’t limited by race or gender. He’s always been a natural. Those natural skills blossomed when he attended the American Hair Academy in Mount Pleasant.
What couldn’t be taught is the ability to engage in small talk — a trade secret for barbers since man first noticed he had a shaggy cranium. Those conversations, mostly mundane and occasionally significant, create a client base that can sustain a barber for a lifetime.
Despite his homeschool upbringing, Ryce never had trouble chatting up strangers. Though his hands never stop moving, Ryce takes his time when he cuts. He sets aside half an hour for a simple haircut, continually measuring and snipping as his mouth motors on.
At 20 years old, Ryce is versed enough in the world to keep a conversation going forever. As a part-time lay therapist and a full-time hair technician, Ryce is just a lot of fun to talk to.
It likely runs in the family.
“I’m a third-generation barber,” Ryce said.
Ryce usually sees upwards of a dozen clients daily, many of whom have signed a painted chalkboard on the wall. That only happens after a customer has proven they can keep appointments without breaking them too often – a kind of barber client hall of fame.
Of course, some clients – especially the younger ones – come to Ryce with unrealistic expectations. He said some youths have brought in pictures of anime characters with ridiculously spiky hair. He warns the client that it’s not going to look like the cartoon.
But he can still come pretty darn close. Keeping up with new hairstyles is more than a job requirement. It’s a hobby.
“There’s always new techniques, new systems, new hairstyles, which kind of force you into learning different stuff. Every so many years, it seems like there’s a new style that comes around or comes back. So, it’s something to really stay on your toes about,” he said.
Much like trimming a hedge or carving a sculpture, cutting hair is a semi-permanent art that leaves little room for error. For the uninitiated, grabbing a pair of scissors can be as intimidating as learning calculus.
But Ryce doesn’t feel fear when he cuts hair. He doesn’t worry about cutting too much. Repetition is key, he said, and his hands have developed a muscle memory from hundreds of haircuts.
“There are barbers I watched on YouTube growing up. I used to watch my uncle cut. There’s so many different hair shapes, different hair textures,” he said.
Not every hair texture can support a movie star haircut, and Ryce is honest with his customers going into a cut.
But he doesn’t view it as his job to suggest haircut style unless someone wants advice. The challenge and fun come from taking on every hair assignment possible. Every cut makes him better.
“When I get to the end of the day, it’s like, man, I dealt with 20 people, 20 different personalities. But I love each and every one of them,” Ryce said.
Hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.