KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Off of State Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas, "Off the Top" Barbershop welcomes customers from across the metro.
Barbers like Daylen Sirithasack have been cutting hair since high school.
"I wanted to be a barber for a long time," Sirithasack said.
His eye for precision always makes for a clean cut.
"If it were up to me, I could sit and polish a cut all day," he said.
Before Sirithasack became a barber at Off the Top, he was a student right next door, at Headlines Barber Academy.
"When I got in here, it changed my life," Sirithasack said.
Co-owner, Lamonte McIntyre, said the academy teaches future barbers a number of different skills.
"Students can graduate, learn all they can learn....about being their boss....their own personal business and then come and apply to me," McIntyre said, who is the owner of the barbershop next door.
It's an experience Lamonte McIntyre knows all too well.
After spending nearly 25 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, others helped him get his foot in the door.
"These three guys brought me in and I was focused, and we've been just doing the same thing, helping young people understand that there are chances, opportunities," McIntyre said.
And it's those opportunities student Mase Root wanted to be a part of.
"I’ve never been around a group of teachers that have a genuine interest in seeing you win and going the extra mile," Root said.
His teachers areDerrick, Lamonte, George and Ronnell, who are teaching students through their own expertise.
"When you’re around teachers that love what they do, it makes it love what you do even more," Root said.
And now, Root is growing his own client list.
"I only come to him," one of Root's clients said.
He's learning, not just from his teachers, but others who were once in his shoes, like Sirithasack.
Both Root and Sirithasack say the Academy and the barbershop are like family, where colleagues and students alike support each other, which helps with confidence.
Roughly 12 to 13 students graduate from the academy each year. To learn more about the program, visit its website.
