Maya McFadden Photo
Majesty Whitaker talks Ukraine and barbershop talk Thursday morning.
The word at Transformerz barber shop Thursday was Ukraine — along with some other topics that had to stay in the shop.
As owner Majesty Whitaker gave his close friend and customer JC a bald fade for his biweekly cut inside the 1440 Whalley Ave. shop, he issued a plea for the American government to help save the lives of Ukrainians in the face of the Russian invasion.
Discussions about Ukraine and other current events are not unusual topics of conversation in the barber shop setting Whitaker said. Lately the shop consensus has been that “we’re all worried about Ukraine,” he said during a conversation onthe “Word on the Street” segment of WNHH FM’s“LoveBabz Love Talk” radio program..
“You may think it has nothing to do with us, but we’re just worried about human beings and seeing the children and the families that’s being displaced and absolutely senseless war and violence for nothing,” Whitaker said.
Nora Grace-Flood Photo
As two customers waited for the next available barber, four others were being shorn in chairs throughout the busy shop.
JC admitted to getting teary-eyed while talking about Ukraine during a recent conversation in the shop and watching news clips of families in danger, separating, and “people kissing their kids maybe possibly for the last time.”
“When you see senseless killing and violence and you know that we’re a superpower, you kind of want them to step in and say, ‘Enough is enough,’ ” Whitaker said.
JC is one of the many friends who trust Whitaker for a regular shape-up. Whitaker shaved the bottom half of JC’s head bald until reaching an inch above his ear then blended his hair into a fade.
Whitaker with longtime friend and customer JC.
In the background a TV played clips from ESPN, a go-to channel in the shop along with news outlets.
Whitaker said the shop’s customers don’t always agree on topics. Disagreement is “what makes the barbershop,” he said.
Talk in the shop and images on the screen helped Whitaker gain a new perspective on the war in Ukraine.
Two weeks ago Whitaker felt that “we should just mind our business and let history take its course.”
Now he feels America should step in and help out the “elderly and children and people that’s dying for no cause,” he said. “We have to help them somehow, some way.”
A universal barber shop code is “certain stuff in the barber shop stays in the barber shop,” Whitaker said when asked about what other topics have been buzzing around Transformerz of late.
No topic is off limits.
“We try not to talk about religion and politics, but we do anyway,” he said.
Originally from Brooklyn, Whitaker has worked as a barber for three decades. He decided to move to New Haven 20 years ago because it is slower-paced than New York. “I was moving too fast. Once I came here I realized I needed to slow it down,” he said.
Whitaker rarely went to barbershops as a child; he would get all his hair shaved off by his mother instead. “I felt deprived,” he said.
When he got his first pair of clippers, he would practice on his friends.
Eventually he learned barbershops are more than just places to get haircuts. The conversational atmosphere drew him in and helped him to realize barbering is his destiny, he said.
After moving to New Haven he got married, had three kids, and then 10 years ago opened the Whalley Avenue barbershop.
Outside Transformerz barbershop Thursday morning.
Whitaker added that recently he has had to increase his haircut prices by $5-$10.
“Yesterday’s prices are not today’s prices,” he joked. “Everything went up not just gas, haircuts as well.”
He described the shop as a “village” that helps raise youth and provide an outlet for the community.
“What I really love about barbering is how we raise boys to men. We see generations,” he said. Whitaker said he has “become like family members to people” over the past 30 years; he attended several wedding of friends made at the shop.
His 11-year-old son was raised in his shop, learning how to have healthy dialogue and build relationships.
Whitaker’s Thursday plans included working until 6 p.m., then taking his son to football practice, followed by picking his daughter up from dance at 9 p.m.
Click on the video to watch the full discussion at Transformerz barber shop on the “Word on the Street” segment of WNHH FM’s “LoveBabz LoveTalk” show. Click on the video below to watch a discussion earlier in the program with Eat Up Catering and Foundation founders Kristen Threatt and Brian Burkett-Thompson.