Johnathan McCastle: Beyond The Blade

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You know we know it takes a special track to do this.
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It’s just a fluid chef. I’m here to remind y’all I’m sick with it. My name is hot. It’s meaning it’s one and the
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same. Simple and plain. I’m all about my paper. The bacon cheddar and pain. I got these lames running for the border. The talent. Keep it flowing like it’s water.
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But here we go. There we go. Creeping to a low speed. Is it him and his friend sitting in the nose? Play it cool. He ain’t special just cuz he’s on TV.
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Everybody’s hands up acting like they know.
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[Music]0:39
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Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome all of you beautiful people to another episode of the Taste Music Hear Food
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podcast show. I am your host Ed Porter and today we have a good one. We have a good one. I I have been this is uh this
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guest that we have today is someone who I I look forward to talking to on a considering a consistent basis and today
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uh would be a great time to do such and we’re going to have some fun. But before we get into who it is, let me let me
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give this man his flowers as he should so deserved them. Okay, today’s guest is a master of the blade and a curator of
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confidence. From faded lines to razor sharp precision, he’s the redefining what it means to be a barber in the modern era. Founder of the Top Shave
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Lounge in Minnitankka, Minnesota, a space where grooming meets luxury and self-care becomes ritual. He has carved out more than just clean cuts. He’s
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built culture. He’s laced up NFL rookies at the draft, brought high-end grooming into Nordstrom and Vormir, and turned a
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rough first shave into a lifelong mission for excellence. But more than just fresh fades and buttery straight
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razor finishes, his work is about identity, confidence, and community. In the realm where edge-ups meet jazz and
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beard bomb blends with soulful playlist, today’s guest is setting a new standard, not just for how we look, but how we
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feel. So grab your cape, your comb, and your favorite track because we’re digging in with my friend, the one and only Mr. Jonathan Massle.
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That was that was amazing. I’m like, “Oh, that made me feel even better about everything I do.” Yeah. Listen, uh I we we have, you know,
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friendly banter like every time I see you. So there’s something to be said though for I remember the first time that I met you when we were having a
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conversation when I was going through my skin consultation. That’s yeah, that’s something that I don’t know if your barber is doing that. You’re you got a
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regular barber then because uh before we even put you know for anybody going to crack some jokes about you know what
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hair we talking about obviously my beard cuz you know I’m fically challenged up top but that’s okay. Um before we put
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any uh razor to face we we talked about you know what what it is I was looking for any skin issues that I may have had
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or what have you. And um anybody knows me, I did my research before I went and uh to Top Shape, but when I did when I
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finally got there, it was, you know, it was home and uh we had our conversations and and you got to really talk about why
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it is you do what you do. And the the whole point of it all was that you was you’re building confidence and you’re um
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people leave out of your shop with more confidence than they than they they had coming in and well let’s just talk about
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you know your origin story like you know you know your initial struggles as and it’s it’s out there that you know how
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your first you turned uh a not so good situation first shave into a love and
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care for obviously making people feel adverse to what you felt when you had and you’ve also purposely let your skin
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get bad in order to show how fast it could be rectified. And I think that’s the difference between you know having
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um a barber who is you know just there to do a cut and somebody that is uh you know an ally for you and your skin care
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and your your confidence as a whole as a whole being. So, talk to me about your origins into getting into what you’re doing um and why why you do what you do.
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Okay. Well, it started off um I like to feel like it starts off the same for absolutely every guy. You know, you turn 18 years old and writing uh in the mail,
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they send you a razor. So, every guy that I’ve known, I see guys shaving on TV.
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Who who who sends these 18-y old razor? Gillette. Gillette.
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You get a razor at 18. Like, where does they do that at? What? It comes in the mail.
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In where? Like where where did you get your mail at when you was 18? At home. At home. At my mom’s house. What state? Minnesota.
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Just for the record. Hey. Hey. This You don’t get razors in the mail in New York. Nowhere.
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I don’t I Nobody sending razors to You’re not getting a free razor from Gillette. Did it have Did it have smallox in it? Like
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um It’s been a long time since you’ve been 18 and so you probably wouldn’t understand.
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Did it was grape nuts and then the the razor, right?
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No, no, no. It was just It was like just one lone razor, you know, with the head on everything just in the mail and it was when you turned 18.
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I didn’t know Gillette sent those out. I just know that one came to my house when I turned 18. So, I wanted to be like the
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guys on TV. I wanted to be like everybody else who shaves. So, I used a little shaving cream like I saw my
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grandfather and other people do. and I rubbed that blade across my face. I thought I did a good job. I got the hair
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off. But after that, I looked like, you know, it didn’t take much time for me to look like a a Nestle Crunch Bar.
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And that was part of the problem, you know. So now I didn’t know what to do, but I figured I just can’t shave. And
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when I was in barber school, um my instructor said, uh when you’re shaving, uh black
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people’s uh face, uh shave, what did she say? I’m trying to think of what she said. Either uh
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yeah, I just just we’re just supposed to shave one direction. Never go against the grain is what she said. Never under any circumstance go against the grain on
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black people. And so that was just basically the rules. Never go against the grain. But even just shaving with the grain, I would still look like a
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Nestle Crunch Bar. So, I just decided that, you know, maybe for me and for my skin, I can’t shave. Um, and I went
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through barber school and I got the opportunity to shave a lot of different people. But things changed when I went from the my first shop I was in to the
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art of shaving. Um what the focus was the focus there was teaching people about their skin type.
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Um how shaving is supposed to work for each individual and how it’s a custom shave for each individual. So once I
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knew that it had to be custom, I went in first off when I went in there working to work. I went in thinking I know everything because I’m the barber, you know, because I went to school for this.
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Mhm.
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But the guys who were working there were shave consultants and so they would be teaching people how to shave and I figured ain’t no way they know more than
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me. But I was pleasantly surprised because they actually taught me what I should do, how to shave once they did a skin consultation on me.
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Mhm.
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And I learned the directional growth my hair was growing in. And so everybody’s different.
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Everybody, each individual, you have to shave them custom to their skin. And so the with the grain and the against the grain is going to be
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completely and totally dependent on whose skin that that that we’re talking about. And so once I figured that out, I
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realized my pattern my growth pattern was a certain way. So when I shave, I can shave uh with the grain. If I shave two times with the grain or or with the
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grain and across the grain, I can still get a great shave without those uh without those issues. And if I did get ingrown hairs because ingrown hairs or
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those razor bumps is what I really experience, then I would put on um the the aftershave balm, it just calms my skin down. Yeah.
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Or different products. So I learned that there’s products that’s going to calm your skin down and get rid of the irritation. And so now at this point,
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I can teach men who have different problems or different issues that they’re dealing with how to deal with those issues. And that’s one of the
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things that makes me happy because when you’re dealing with those kind of issues and you’ve been dealing with those issues for a long time, you just
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feel like this is just it. There’s nothing I can do.
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But once you find out that there is something you can do, you’re a little more happy. You’re a little more excited. Your confidence goes up.
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And so that’s what I want to do. I want to instill confidence. People get uh nicks and cuts and they don’t know what they’re doing wrong. Don’t worry, I
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teach you how to shave for your skin so you don’t get that, you know?
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And so that’s what I do. That’s part of why I love what I do because it makes people feel good. And
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then when the a significant other looks at them or their parents or somebody and they start speaking in a certain way,
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they feel so confident and everybody gets so excited. And that’s what I like about everything that I do. I can take them from what they look like and what they feel like in the beginning. Mhm.
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to where they are in the end. And I you can notice the difference. They stand taller. They hold their head up higher
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and they feel like their skin is glowing. And so every time I see it, I’m excited every time I finish. Yeah. No,
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that’s that’s well said. So, let me preface this again. So, this is Taste Music here Food. This is the destination
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for conversations about food, music, and culture. And the reason why this is such an important topic for me I think because for many many moons, you know,
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the barberh shop has been the cornerstone of the community and this where you would learn things like how to
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shave and and that a razor doesn’t last forever and all these different things.
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And that’s why that that confidence comes with education and and the knowhow. All right. So before we get a little too deep, we going we going to
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jump into and play a little little game I call this or that. Okay. Okay. Yeah.
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All right. So this or that is basically I’m going to give you two things. You
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got to pick one or the other. Very simple. Don’t overthink it. Just first thing that comes to mind,
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say what it is. All right. You ready to play? I’m ready to play.
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Okay. All right. So this or that straight razor or electric trimmer?
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Can only choose one. Straight razor. Straight razor. Any reason why?
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I think the straight razor is um the best grooming tool that has ever come out. And I think everything that they
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make now, even moving forward, is simply to emulate the straight razor. Okay.
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So, if you want the nice tight lines in anything that you’re doing, it’s a straight race. Okay. Jazz or hip-hop?
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One or the other?
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All right. I’m going go I’m going to go hip-hop, but that doesn’t change my love for jazz. But that’s fine. But you can get hip-hop that has jazz in it. So, you get you get you get a twofer.
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But they’re different.
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They are different. But you never you’re never gonna find jazz with hip-hop in it. That’s that’s unfair.
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I’m just saying it’s a thing. You already said cool hip-hop it is. Okay. Beard oil or beard balm?
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Beard balm. Beard balm is going to give a little bit of shape. It’s going to give hold and it’s going to give shine and it’s going to help over the course
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of time for that beard to soften. So balm all day. Bomb all day.
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classic barberh shop or modern grooming lounge.
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They both have their place. I didn’t ask that.
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I’m just going I’m going to say classic barberh shop.
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Ah, and I’m going to tell you why. It’s the it’s it’s oftent times it’s just filled with like so many people. You you said
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something earlier. It’s the It’s like a cornerstone oftent times of a community. Everybody’s coming into this place.
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You’re hearing all the gossip and information that’s happening and it it’s it’s a hub.
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The hum of the neighborhood of the whole community. Yeah.
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Okay. Okay. Live concert or intimate jam session?
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I like the sound of an intimate jam session. Okay. Okay.
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Intimate jam session. It is like intimate jam session like like those people who used to sit on a stool and just kind of
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Yeah. Whether it’s a guitar or a trumpet or harmonica or something like that. I love that. That’s that’s that sounds cool. I I like that. And that fits with
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your with your theme. That don’t fit in your classic barberh shop model though.
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But it definitely fits in in in your your your updated barber lounge like what you have. I I love the Barber Lounge.
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I I I mean, you got one.
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I love it, you know, and and what it means and and what it brings. It brings solo. I mean, it brings intimate conversation to the next level.
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Absolutely. Absolutely.
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Music, you know, it’s a nice segue for that, too. Music plays a huge role as far as setting the mood and tone um for
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any venue or or room. Your place is no different. Actually, today would be the first day ever ever that I’ve been to
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Top Shave. I went I was there today that uh matter of fact if you whenever you see me if I am ever like freshly you
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know lined up cut up this man has done it. So uh he’s he is absolutely my
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personal master barber. I I go to him as much as possible. So, anytime I’m doing anything, but today I went today was the first day that there was not music
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playing ever. I’ve never It was weird. We had the little, you know, hallway music, but uh uh you won’t you won’t hear that again. You won’t you won’t hear that again.
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So, speaking of that, how how important to you is music for for setting that mood and setting the scene for for you and your personal mood as well as your patrons?
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I think is uh is very important. I think it’s a it could be one of the absolute most important things. And I know that
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that might sound silly to people, but when you walk in, uh music can uh evoke emotion. Music touches people. It makes
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people feel uh uh uh it can make people happy. It can make people sad. It can make people calm, make people relax. And
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so what I want to do, I want to create an environment that’s that’s invite inviting. Uh more than anything, I want
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to create environment that has like a classy classic feel. And so the music helps to do uh to really do just that.
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It it changes the way people feel when they walk in. And then as their service is happening, they get to uh hear the
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music and and what I love, I like to hear uh music that often times it’s like love music, right?
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And I’m not talking about like anything that’s going any in too deep or too extensive into anything, but just nice
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calm music that’s happy that that’s that’s positive.
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And so that’s one of the that’s the the kind of environment that I want to bring. Something uh positive, something calming, and something that makes you
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feel good. By the time you leave, you feel a little bit upbuilt. It is definitely something that enhances the the services for sure. I mean, and I
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think also you uh it’s sort of um a time period enhancer too. Like there’s times where like we and we have conversations
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about the music sometimes too. Like we playing we had a whole uh rap pack conversation one day. We was in there.
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We was playing all the Frank stuff. You know, I love Frank Sinatra or anything from New York for that matter. But anyway, he loves Chicago.
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Chicago is a great second city. It is for sure a great second city and I love it to death.
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Yeah. as a second option. So, second to New York, of course. But, um, no, I’m just fly. I do love Chicago. Uh,
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let’s talk about, you know, the barberh shop, like we said, is a has been, you know, a cornerstone of of the community
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as far as cultural relevance like in the black community specifically, the barber shop, like there’s movies about it, right? Like this it’s it’s it’s a thing.
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where um you go to talk about and see and come into contact with all these different characters from um and
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depending on what what where you’re at, you know, every City USA there’s a barbers you can you can look inside and
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see mentally what that would look like for you as far as you know for you
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what does it mean to be you know carrying a torch to those whether you have a a barber lounge or not, you’re
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still in the pantheon of, you know, establishments to be that that sounding
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board for. So, you got to be you got to be a skilled barber, you know, and and and also have to be able to
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hold conversations and have stuff to offer. I feel a good barber does. It’s like a good bartender. you have to have
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um those the type of verbal skills to be able to communicate with just about anybody from any walk of life. How do you feel
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or do you feel that sense of responsibility to to have to be that that person for damn near everybody? Um
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and what does that responsibility mean to you? Or does that is that a thing?
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I think so. Um, I think that’s a a great question because I I’ve always felt that it’s very
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important for a barber to be able to uh number one to hold a conversation. Uh, and often times that means that you have to know certain information. Now,
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there’s certain information. I’m not the best one, right?
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But um to be able to hold a conversation uh and you should be able to talk to people that the age range or the age
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level of people uh shouldn’t matter and it shouldn’t matter what walk of life that they live. You should be able to be
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um number one be who you are, but to be able to to uh uh have stimulating conversation because everybody has
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something different going on. And often times a barber can be like almost like a therapist for the different people that are coming in.
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Um this is how I feel personally. I feel like uh there’s an intimate range that certain people are in around you.
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And what that means is like if people you’re you’re you’re most often for people they’re probably pretty comfortable if someone’s at the very
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least 3 ft away from them. Right? At 3 ft away you can stand and you can put your hand all the way as far out as you can and stand in a circle and you can
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make sure people are at least at least arms length away. But the people and any random person can be that far and you’re
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okay for the most part. Then when you get about two feet away, then you’re like your your uh all your friends, you know, they can be within two feet and
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it’s okay. But this one foot area around you, now this is just my personal theory, but this one area around you is
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an area where maybe your parents and your significant other and then your barber can be, right?
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And it’s a very intimate area that people don’t really think about. And so when you’re there and when you’re this close, you’re not just letting everybody
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into this space. And so it I feel like um there’s something psychologically that that that puts people in a position
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where they’re able to express themselves fully to you even when they’re not expressing it to other important people
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in their life. So there’s a responsibility there too. Number one,
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to not be given bad advice, right? You don’t want to give bad advice to people and and you got to realize it’s really not about you anyway. And sometimes you
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got to realize uh also that some problems are above your pay grade.
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And if the problem is above your pay grade, you going to have to tell them, “Oh, you’re going to have to talk to someone else about that. I appreciate you uh expressing yourself and letting
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me know, but you have to talk to someone else.” So, as a barber, you are involved in so many different conversations.
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And because of that, you have to be um uh adapt in your uh way of speaking, who
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who you’re speaking to and the subjects that you’re speaking about. So um from the very beginning, I think barbers have always uh been like this and been these
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people for the different individuals uh in the communities. Not only that, I don’t feel like people only feel like you’re a barber over time.
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Yeah. because you’re dealing with people for years. Sometimes you’re cutting uh a father, a son, and a grandchild, you
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know, and you have the whole you have generations of different individuals who you’re actually dealing with. So, you
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become kind of like family and the kids are calling you uncle this, uncle that, right? Oh, that’s your uncle. That’s
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because you’re so ingrained in people’s lives. I have a family. I cut the father, the mother, the son, and
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the grandson’s hair, you know, and so it’s such a cool feeling to know that you’re not just a random guy anymore,
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especially when you spend time with the different individuals. You kind of become like family, but to different people, to so many different groups, and that’s what a barber is to me.
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That’s super cool. Like on this bad advice thing, too, uh what what’s the best hot dog again? Chicago hot dogs are
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giving best hot dogs world and I don’t and and it’s really not a debate.
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Y giving bad advice as no hot dog can touch a Chicago hot dog.
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Let’s agree to disagree. We Anyway, you know what? There’s another thing that we touched on a little bit that I think we should dig into because it’s a
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conversation we’ve had as well. So there’s this misnomer. So I believe I’ve always
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believed this, but you confirmed it for me. I believe if you’re if you’re a barber, sort of like if you’re a chef, if you’re a chef, you may have your
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specialties, but you should be knowledgeable about food in general. It shouldn’t be anything that you are
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totally thrown off base with if you were confronted with. Completely.
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Same thing with with a barber. So, I remember um I’ve sent quite a few people to you um of all walks of life, all
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races and colors and like I’ve got well does he does he cut white people here?
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I’m like he he can cut anybody’s hair, you know, and and he’s done the gambit.
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And so I didn’t realize how of a common question that was until I’ve encountered
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a couple times and because they figured like, oh well you you go to Yeah, I go to him. I mean, if you’ve seen the, you
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know, United States of Beniton that walks in and out of his space, which is what I really do also like about your
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your place of business, is that it’s for all, like you just said, you cut, you know, all the gen all all the different family members, you know, women and men.
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Um, but speak to me about the fact of being able to to be that barber that, you know, can do all. So it’s not, you
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know, there’s no limitations to to your craft because I’m sure you you probably deal with that on from time to time too as well.
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I do. Um, so in barber school really, you know, I think it all starts in barber school. They kind of make you cut
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absolutely everything anyway, you know, because the goal is for you to know how to do absolutely everything. And the
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funny thing about barber school, the by the time you’re finished, the goal is to get you to be able to cut one haircut.
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Just one one haircut is when you take a state board, it is one haircut, the same haircut.
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And that’s what was your what was your test haircut?
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It’s the the the the state board. It’s like so the classic white guy haircut where there’s going to be a little taper on the side and in the back. you’re
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gonna, you know, uh, shear and comb over the top and blend everything in over the side. That is the
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one haircut that you have to know to to to officially be a barber.
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So, even with that said, my first day in barber school went this way.
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I was there for an hour. I had never cut hair before a day in my life. Uh, we we took a class. I mean, we were in the class cuz there’s a class session every
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day. And then so the class session was over and then she said, “Hey, you.
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What’s your name?” So, my name is Jonathan. She was like, “Cut that man’s hair.” And I was like, “Oh, I just got here.” Yeah. The way the way the way my
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clippers are set up and and I was like, “I don’t even have clippers yet. I just got here.” She said, “Use that station.
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Use Use that station over there. Cut that man’s hair.” I said, “How should I cut it?” She said, “Whatever style he wants it.” And so that’s kind of how you’re thrown into it.
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Your job is to cut someone’s hair in whatever style they want it, no matter how they want it, right? And so, uh, the
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motto is MSU, make stuff up, right? If you don’t know how to do it, if you’ve never done it ever,
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what does the photo look like of the haircut? Yeah. Make it look like that photo.
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Yeah. And so over the course of time, you know, when that’s your that’s what you have to do. You have to make stuff up in order to make it happen because
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the goal is to simply get it to look like that.
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But I I feel that comes with with the basis of knowledge and the skill set. So like the fact that that happened on day one is is is crazy to me. Like it was
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like, “Yeah, go ahead.” It was hard.
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Go. You think I’m sure that guy’s looking for you right now. First off, first off, listen.
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He got bangs right now. America was like 2 hours. I I I got it somewhere in the ballpark.
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Well, yeah. He wanted to walk out with a with a ball at the end.
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No, no, no. Listen. And then Okay. And then the instructor would come and anything you didn’t do right, they’ll come clean up for you in the end.
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Okay.
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27 minutes, 54 seconds
Okay. You know, so you’re not So dude was there for like 3 hours.
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He was there for a while. Like I’m not I’m not I’m not happy about that. That’s what he gets for the $2 haircut.
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I’m I’m embarrassed a little bit. I’m a little embarrassed about it. But you know, uh, so because that’s your base,
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um, one of the things my instructor told me, she said, uh, that what’s the hardest thing for you to do?
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And, you know, once you identify what the hardest thing for you for you to do is, don’t run from it, run toward it.
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Make that the thing that you’re the best at. Yeah. Make your weakness a strength.
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Yeah. And so that’s what I do. That’s my approach to cutting hair, to shaving, to beards, to the uh the the art of luxury
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men’s grooming. That’s my approach. If there’s something that I don’t feel like is my strongest, my goal is to make that the thing that
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I’m the absolute best at. And so this way, I start to cover weak points. So,
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um, there’s no hair that I’m not there’s no men’s grooming,
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you know, generally men’s grooming that I’m not willing to do from the neck up, I’ll get you together. And so, it doesn’t matter your your nationality or
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or anything like that. As long as you want this done, I’m here to do it for you and I know how to do the job.
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Because what you find is each of the exact same techniques that you can use on diff on one culture, you can use it
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on the other culture. You just have to know what you’re doing.
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Lots of people get out of barber school and they’re like, “Not doing that. I’m only cutting black hair. I’m only cutting white hair. I refuse to do this
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or that.” But for me, I look at it like if I choose one over the other, what I’m
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really doing is limiting my ability to make money to to to take care of my family, right?
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And I’m not in the business of uh limiting my ability to take care of my family. I’m in the business of taking care of people so that I can take care
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of my family. So, I make sure that there’s no one’s hair that I cannot cut.
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Very cool. Very cool. Let’s talk about some of your your accolades. So, you know, again, I mentioned it in in the in
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the intro. Um uh NFL draft, you did uh you know, a bunch of soon to be NFL stars, which I’m sure we talked about
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that. That was a cool experience. Um Lake Minnetonka magazine, you know, Bladeunner. That’s that’s how I found you. So, that’s how I came in contact.
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So, I’ve been I’ve been this is we’re going on like three or four years, right? Mhm. It’s crazy. I think so.
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Yeah. Still still with the Chicago hot dog thing. Anyway, um your your collaborations um with high tail retailers, uh Nordstrom’s and Vammore
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and all these different things. Talk to me about what what it means to go from when you first started that first
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haircut with the the two-hour haircut with the guy to where you are now and how have these accolades fueled you to
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jump out on a limb and to start the Top Shave Lounge which you and you did that in the heart of the pandemic. So talk to me about that.
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Okay.
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Um, let me just find the right place to start. You know, uh, my barber shop that I was at initially.
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Um, I was at a a shop in St. Paul called the Grooming House Barberhop. And everybody
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was heavy hitters as far as uh people who can do haircuts. And so you were not if you couldn’t do a great haircut, you can’t make it in there.
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Mhm. you know, and so they’ll let you know if you can’t do a great haircut.
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So, the goal is to get great at doing haircuts. And so, that’s what I did over the course of time. And I maintain, you know, being able to to to shave and and
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and do those types of things uh while I was in there. And so, that only prepared me for what I had to what I was going to do next. Um, it started off there.
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Everything starts off, you know, from your from your base. And that’s my base.
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um your personality uh should be inviting.
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And so because your personality is inviting, then you want to take every opportunity that you can, especially in the beginning when you don’t have when
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you’re not making a whole lot of money, you got to do what you can to make the money.
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So the the more inviting you are, the more telephones you’re answering, the more people you’re talking to, the more opportunities there are in front of you.
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So people would come in and nobody would be talking to him, but don’t worry, I got it. I’mma talk to him. Then I started cutting the guy. He was uh he
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played on one of these college football teams.
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Um he liked how I treated him. He liked how I cut his hair. And so the next time he came in, he came in basically with his team and he said, “Hey y’all, this
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is the guy we go to.” So that team started coming in here and then they started telling their friends. And so I started get I got about three different
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college teams coming in there and everybody was coming to me to get their haircut and people was like that’s unfair. Yeah, you got to go.
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But it’s because um if someone comes in I’m not afraid to go up to the person and talk to him, right? And so there was another guy that
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33 minutes, 19 seconds
would come in uh that came in the first time. Nobody was talking to him. I talked to him. Turns out he was on the St. Paul Saints.
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And so he would have the St. Paul Saints players come in. And so then now I got this team too, right?
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And then everybody’s like, “You don’t even watch sports like that.
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Why do you get all athletes?” But it starts not with knowing what people do, right?
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With just trying to be good at whatever it is that you do. So that’s really kind of where it started. And then from there, you know, I kind of moved uh
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forward. One of the guys who was uh on one of the college teams ended up uh going to the NFL. So that was one of my uh players that was already in the NFL.
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Well, anyway, and he went over to New England and won a championship. Came back and I was still cutting his hair.
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But while I was working at the art of shaving, that’s when I had the my my next opportunity. So, I believe in talking to different people. Um, and the
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more conversation you have, the more opportunities that is possible that they might come your way.
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So, while I was at the uh just working at the Art of Shaving, um the Art of Shaving ended up making a deal with uh some type of deal with the
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NFL draft. And so we became the the official of the NFL draft, but my um
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district manager ended up coming from Chicago because that’s where the NFL draft was going to be. And she said, “I want a young person who’s going to be or
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someone who was going to have the right personality to be able to connect with these young individuals at the draft.” And so there was another there was of
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course couple different barbers in Chicago. And then there was uh uh even when you come here, there was me, there was another barber that we had here. And
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35 minutes
so she said, but she felt like I had the right personality to be able to to connect with them.
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And so, of course, I see that see that as an honor. And so now I go here and then I get to the opportunity just to connect with a whole bunch of these
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young guys, cutting their hair, lining their beards up, just making them look good uh for this draft event. And it was
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just such a a a cool opportunity. And then I started so I did that and then I
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had to come home early because I had another event. They invited me to a draft party after but I wasn’t able to
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cuz I already set up a different event because I started cutting the manager at Nordstrom’s and we started have and he loved his services. He loved what he was
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giving and they have these parties and things like that. So he was like, “Would you be interested?” You know, so through
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the the relationships that you build, you get to meet people uh who love what you’re doing. And so we
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36 minutes
start talking. I was like, I I wanted to be an event barber because there are different barbers who do work for events
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and I’ve always thought that that would be amazing.
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So that’s what I wanted to do. And so he said, “Why not do do Nordstrom for our next party?” So that’s how I got the Nordstrom. And then so once I got
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Nordstrom’s I was able to do that a couple of times and then go to I even did um I did two different Nordstroms and I was working doing some work with
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36 minutes, 28 seconds
Jack Black at the time and then I uh so Jack Black liked what I was doing at Nordstrom’s and they were like hey can
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you do this at Vonmar too and so then I got the opportunity to go there. So um
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when you do good work and you put in the energy and the and the effort and you are able to uh communicate effectively
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36 minutes, 51 seconds
with different individuals then often times that puts you in a position to be able to um to move in a in a way that
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37 minutes
you would like to move. So that’s what I feel like I did. Uh uh they said what do they say?
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Yeah. Really that’s it. I was moving in a way that that uh I felt like made sense for what it was that I was trying
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to do. And I always felt like, you know, barbering, you know, you’re getting like 10, 15, $20 a haircut. That’s how it
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started out. And I always thought that there’s got to be a highend to this, you know. Yeah. Like like there’s no way this is it.
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And so I was like I said, there’s people who clean for the president. they clean for for a very wealthy family and they make a lot of money. How can I do that?
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And that’s what I started to focus on to see what I can do. And so, you know, just doing these things and the
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37 minutes, 47 seconds
connections that I’ve got has put me in a position where I’m like, okay, now I can do this because I realize that there’s different lanes, right? There’s an avenue for it.
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There’s an avenue for everything. And then even so from the NFL draft event, uh there were players who came uh at least one player who came here to
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Minnesota and they were like I saw him at the mall and he was like man I was looking for your number. Like he noticed me when we when I was walk he was like
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38 minutes, 11 seconds
hey I remember you from the draft event and I was looking for your number and I just couldn’t find it. So he was like can I get in with you? And that kind of
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helped me to get more athletes coming in and more of these different individuals.
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So, it’s the uh energy, work, effort that you put in and um you have to meet people. If you don’t meet people,
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well, yeah, you’re in the people business. That’s it. At the end of the day, it’s it’s you can you can only be as good as your clientele allows you to
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be. Um, you know, we often often people think about uh a barber or or a haircut
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as a superficial thing when in all actuality there is, like you said, it’s a it’s a it’s a one,
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it’s part of every I know self-care is a is a hot button topic. Yeah. These days, and it’s usually something that’s
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reserved for for women, right? Um, but you know, it’s it’s definitely
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going to your barber and having them help you with any kind of issues you may have, whether it’s a skin issue or even
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if it’s just, you know, shooting the [ __ ] and and getting a a lineup and and and and having that the time for
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yourself, um, is I think it’s a necessity, I believe. I I I rope it into
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a necessity for me. So, it’s definitely one of those things that I feel people should have
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in their repertoire of things. And then, of course, looking good and feeling good. There’s there’s no way around that. It’s is part of the the thing. So,
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I I would like to get into the psych psych psychology behind grooming and its impact on self-esteem
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because there’s some issues or or some topics in there that I think people
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glaze over uh at times. what you know, how do you feel? And I know you you you
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deal with this on a daily basis, but how do you feel about the impact that
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you have made or make on a daily basis with someone that comes in that is not in the best of moods or spirits as far
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as how they look or maybe they have a skin irritation issue or or just don’t know how to shave. I I remember my first
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time I looked at a straight razor I you know I was like I could never use one of these. I you know how do you feel
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your impact is made specifically on the younger generation too cuz I know you deal with a lot of young kids too. How do you feel that that that comes across
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or that that that translates to them? I think uh young old I think I mean uh
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older it doesn’t make a difference. I’ve worked with people who are in their 40s, 50s and 60s who you know who’ve given up
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on being able to do things. But when they’re able to do it, it feels like power. You know what I mean? Just like it’s like I can do something that I did
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41 minutes, 14 seconds
not have that I did not know I had the ability to do. And with the younger generation, you know, they they’re struggling with a different thing.
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They’re going a lot of these guys are going through uh especially when they bring the young ones in, they’re going through puberty and different things like this. They’re having like all of
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these bumps and things and and they don’t know what to do. And so I can help them to uh learn how to number one take
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care of their skin. All of their skin needs to be taken care of. And you can’t just use anything. So once I help them
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uh go in the right direction, uh I think oftentimes that’s kind of what gets you those lifetime clients, you know, because once you help them and they
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realize that whatever that they’ll never forget that they realize what I was going through, I don’t have to.
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And so I think it’s very important for them their self-confidence, how they see themselves, but how other people see them too, you know.
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um uh helping someone to be able to shave and to be a even to be able to line a beard up so that it looks decent on your face. It makes you feel good,
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you know. I also thought so and it’s key you you keep hitting on this point that I think is um is key to
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you said it like four times now. So there’s not many other barbers that are going to show you how to maintain your own stuff
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at home. you do that on a consistent basis because and and you also understand like look I I want you to come in.
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Yes.
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But I also know there’s going to be times where you don’t or you can’t. And so if you’re ever in that situation, this is what you do to maintain what you
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42 minutes, 56 seconds
look as close as possible. You’re not going to get it probably to this level, but you can you have a base to start with so that you can at least attempt
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to, you know, get yourself to where you need to be. And I think that’s super duper commendable because most
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43 minutes, 14 seconds
I’ve never met a barber that that would even offer that.
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43 minutes, 19 seconds
That’s not the the general consensus for any barber. What we want as barbers, we want you to come in as absolutely as often as possible. If you got to come in
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every week, come in every week.
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We want you to come in every single week. But um I don’t feel like it’s a loss for me.
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I feel like this this how I feel. I feel like every individual um depending on what I don’t really care what job that that that you have. A lot
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of people feel like they’re doing things to help other people and barbers are the same. It doesn’t. It’s no sweat off of
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43 minutes, 55 seconds
my back to um to help you to do something to be able to help yourself.
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Not today, but moving forward toward the future. They say if you uh give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day, but if you
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teach a man a fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime. And that’s what I’m trying to do in in the business that I’m in. I want to teach men to fish. teach them
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44 minutes, 19 seconds
how to take care of themselves so that they can benefit because there’s certain things that we just don’t know that we haven’t been taught. Now, there’s
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44 minutes, 28 seconds
someone there who can teach me and that I don’t feel embarrassed.
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44 minutes, 32 seconds
I don’t feel like, oh man, like I can’t believe this guy is saying this to me, then that takes things to the next level
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for me. So that’s why when I uh when I uh sell products, I sell products that are like personal grooming products from
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44 minutes, 48 seconds
from body to to clean your body to clean your face to I the whole everything for for men’s grooming. That’s what I’m here
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44 minutes, 57 seconds
for to help them to take care of themselves as individuals because you feel better when you take care of
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45 minutes, 5 seconds
yourself. You look better when you take care of yourself. You smell better. And it all contributes to the way you feel about yourself.
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45 minutes, 13 seconds
Yeah. Self-confidence is what I tell people.
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45 minutes, 16 seconds
Self-confidence comes from inside. Your self-confidence doesn’t necessarily come from outside. But when you feel like you
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45 minutes, 23 seconds
look good and when you feel like you’ve set yourself up in a way like you should see the guys once they’re done, how they
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45 minutes, 30 seconds
look they how they move their hair this way and that way if they got hair or how they start to I tell people I said,
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45 minutes, 37 seconds
“Hey, listen. For the next about half hour to 45 minutes, you on superstar status. Don’t touch your skin and your face. You got oils and things in your hands.
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45 minutes, 47 seconds
And we just did a heavy exfoliation with this blade. So, don’t touch your face.
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45 minutes, 53 seconds
Allow your face to allow your your face to uh um um start to heal up naturally and your pores to close properly so you
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46 minutes, 2 seconds
don’t put anything in there. And they’re like, but they want to touch it. They want to touch it because they feel like they look so good. I can say that to their significant other and they’re just
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46 minutes, 10 seconds
going to touch their face anyway because they’re going to be like and the people they walk
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46 minutes, 19 seconds
they got they got more cool in they walk when they leave than when they got there. That’s a that’s a fact. That’s a fact.
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46 minutes, 26 seconds
And so that’s what grooming does. If you if you learn how to take care of yourself, you feel better. when you feel
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46 minutes, 34 seconds
better, there’s many different things in your life that you do better because you’re already feeling like you’re on that next level up here. And so that’s what I want to that’s why I want you to
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46 minutes, 42 seconds
take your grooming home, right? And that’s that’s a good segue, too. Like, you know, that’s beyond the chair, you know, that’s that’s the
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46 minutes, 50 seconds
impact that, you know, the Top Shave Lounge has um on all of its patrons uh
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46 minutes, 58 seconds
going, you know, when they leave. You know, it’s that feeling shouldn’t shouldn’t only be in the chair or in those four walls. It’s something that
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47 minutes, 6 seconds
you carry out with you and you feel confident enough that you could, you know, always
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47 minutes, 13 seconds
attain that level of of feel and that’s a great thing. All right, before I let you go, we’re going to go through we’ll play a little. So, like it’s time for the lightning round.
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47 minutes, 22 seconds
Okay.
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47 minutes, 23 seconds
Okay. So, lightning round rapid fire questions again. I’m gonna give you a question or a phrase and you’re going to
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47 minutes, 33 seconds
tell me the first thing that pops into your head. I got rapid answers. You got rapid answers. I got rapid answers. We We shall see. Okay.
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47 minutes, 40 seconds
Okay. All right. Favorite grooming tool. You said you had rapid answers, bro.
47:47
47 minutes, 47 seconds
Uh oh. Wait, wait. Okay. Okay. Liner. Liner blade. Liner blade. Okay. Go-to comfort food.
47:56
47 minutes, 56 seconds
This is This is not as easy as I thought. But wait, wait, wait. Go to comfort food. That’s what I said.
48:04
48 minutes, 4 seconds
Oxtail. Any specific style of oxtail?
48:09
48 minutes, 9 seconds
I like I like it Jamaican. I like Jamaican oxed oxtail. Okay.
48:17
48 minutes, 17 seconds
Curried oxtail.
48:19
48 minutes, 19 seconds
Okay. Okay. dream musical collaboration between different individuals like Nom.
48:26
48 minutes, 26 seconds
No, no, no, no. If you had if you could ever sit with and cut and be a part of
48:35
48 minutes, 35 seconds
grooming a musical artist, who would that be? That’s a tough one. I’m trying to think.
48:43
48 minutes, 43 seconds
Uh, he forget.
48:46
48 minutes, 46 seconds
This is not rapid fire. This is rapid fire, but this is this not a rapid fire question. Like this this is not this this or that. This is like
48:54
48 minutes, 54 seconds
uh this is like ABC A B CDE E. Okay, pick one. First one that come to mind.
49:01
49 minutes, 1 second
Can we come back to this one? Nope. No skipping. Okay.
49:06
49 minutes, 6 seconds
Don’t nobody have hair like that. That you know, you know, I don’t got hair like that. You still got beards though.
49:13
49 minutes, 13 seconds
Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.
49:16
49 minutes, 16 seconds
We just gonna say it’s me. Uh, okay. Yeah, let’s go with you on this one. Like, man, cuz I’m starting to think I’m thinking all the way back in the past. I’m thinking about people who’s not not alive.
49:27
49 minutes, 27 seconds
Be alive. They don’t have to be alive.
49:28
49 minutes, 28 seconds
Any musical any any person that is of of a musical talent that you can think of that you would love to have that
49:36
49 minutes, 36 seconds
conversation? Because that’s really what it’s about. Them sitting in your chair. Who would that be?
49:41
49 minutes, 41 seconds
You know what? It sounds silly, but I I have Jay-Z in there, man.
49:44
49 minutes, 44 seconds
Okay. All right, that’s good. Most memorable client story.
49:52
49 minutes, 52 seconds
Too many. Most memorable.
49:56
49 minutes, 56 seconds
I want to be able to tell can’t I mean like that cuz the memorable stories is bad stories.
50:02
50 minutes, 2 seconds
Tell the story but you got one and you know you could give him his you know give him a nickname.
50:06
50 minutes, 6 seconds
I I got I this don’t sound good. It was memorable because it was kind of wild.
50:11
50 minutes, 11 seconds
This guy was telling me that he beats his wife. You see what I’m saying? Yeah, that’s not a good sharable story. You could have left that one out. That’s what I’m saying. You could have made something else.
50:19
50 minutes, 19 seconds
And then I got other stories that’s also not necessarily sharable stories. Okay, that’s Yeah. Well, yeah. Take that out.
50:26
50 minutes, 26 seconds
No. Okay. One word to describe your journey.
50:35
50 minutes, 35 seconds
Fun. Fun. Fun. Okay, that’s a great one.
50:40
50 minutes, 40 seconds
That’s a great one. you’ve again from NFL to the the the high-end stores to uh
50:47
50 minutes, 47 seconds
cutting uh dancers for shares when she came to town. You did that as well. Madonna. Madonna. Oh, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I am I know.
50:56
50 minutes, 56 seconds
Same thing. Same thing, right? Madonna Shar. You know, I thought you was a music man. I beg your I beg your pardon, Madonna.
51:05
51 minutes, 5 seconds
And also uh uh you went to you know a snazzy a little little event in Vegas that was you know cool event. I went to an amazing wedding.
51:14
51 minutes, 14 seconds
It’s like the it was it was a great wedding just going out there. I’m not going to say who’s but
51:22
51 minutes, 22 seconds
it was a great wedding. So tell everyone how they can get in touch with you, what you got going on, how can they follow
51:30
51 minutes, 30 seconds
you? Uh give them all your socials, all your things.
51:32
51 minutes, 32 seconds
Okay. Well, the way you can get in touch with me, I have uh first off, you can
51:39
51 minutes, 39 seconds
visit the topshaven lounge.com and that’s really going to be a very easy way to get in touch with me. But the top shave lounge basically on
51:48
51 minutes, 48 seconds
everything. So, it’s the topshave lounge on Instagram, uh on Facebook, it’s the top shave lounge on your app store,
51:56
51 minutes, 56 seconds
whether you’re in the Android market or the Apple market. You can book with me 24/7 at if you just look up the top shave
52:04
52 minutes, 4 seconds
lounge, my uh app will come up and you can uh always book on there. So
52:12
52 minutes, 12 seconds
whenever you get the opportunity, when you need uh to feel confident, when you need to feel good, book at the Top Shave Lounge.
52:20
52 minutes, 20 seconds
Awesome. Awesome. Uh thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Jonathan, for being here. your your dedication to your craft
52:29
52 minutes, 29 seconds
uh to the community at large and what you do for uh the men and women that visit you and and and also the children that visit you cannot be uh understated.
52:41
52 minutes, 41 seconds
I as a as a patron of of the Top Shave Lounge um I I commend you for what you do and thank you for for for all that
52:51
52 minutes, 51 seconds
you do. Um, again, visit the Top Shave Lounge on your Android stores as well as the Apple
52:59
52 minutes, 59 seconds
store. Um, that’s how I book all my appointments in the app. Again, the Top Shave Lounge, following all socials.
53:06
53 minutes, 6 seconds
This has been another episode of the Taste Music Hear Food podcast show, the destination for all things food, music,
53:15
53 minutes, 15 seconds
and culture, and how they all connect. I am your host, Ed Porter. Thank you for watching, listening. Till next time.
53:24
53 minutes, 24 seconds
Peace.
53:25
53 minutes, 25 seconds
You know what we do. Y know it takes a special track to do this.
53:31
53 minutes, 31 seconds
It’s just the fluid is a chef. I’m here to remind y’all I’m stick with it.