BY ANDREW BAILEY
BG Independent News Correspondent
Damare Johnson picked up his first pair of clippers in eighth grade, skateboarding around his Louisiana hometown as a traveling barber. From then on, he knew cutting hair was his dream.
Almost 10 years later and he’s traded his wheels and youth for a barber license and a business to call his own: Beyond Blends Hair Studio.
Located at 113 Railroad St., Beyond Blends is the first Black-owned barbershop in Bowling Green, after Johnson became the owner on July 1. Previously Mirage Salon, Johnson jumped at the opportunity to own a business, after having worked there since February.
As for the time between picking up his first pair of clippers and owning Beyond Blends, Johnson spent these years honing his craft and cementing his love for the occupation.
After spending eighth grade in Louisiana, he moved to Texas in ninth grade, and finally ended up in Ohio his sophomore year of high school. Here, he faced the challenge of having to establish himself as a barber to new people.
“I had to recreate myself because we were up north now. My credentials were kinda out the window,” he said.
But through persistence and connections via his high school’s football team, he continued cutting hair until he graduated. Then, he attended the Toledo Barber Academy and graduated last year. He took a six-month break and then decided to get his barber license in April of 2019, which he immediately started putting to use at Impeccable Barbers and Stylists in Toledo.
After moving to Mirage Salon the next winter, he transitioned to ownership five months later in July, marking the first Black-owned barbershop in Bowling Green.
He hopes to inspire others with his entrepreneurial success, but his success didn’t come without his own inspiration.
In seventh grade, a year before he first started cutting hair, a trip to a barbershop and a fresh cut got him interested in the business.
“It was the feeling the barber gave me. You walk in there, you’re maybe not that confident and the fact that a haircut can change your whole mood is what got me. And it was the thought of the before and after too. You can make something out of nothing,” he said.
After his own barber gave him a newfound sense of confidence with a haircut, he sought to provide this same feeling for others and began to see a head as more than a place where hair grows.
He saw it as a canvas.
“It’s an art form. The feeling of making someone’s day better or changing how they feel or how they look, it’s satisfying,” he said. “It can be stressful too, because I want to make sure this person’s hair looks how they want it to look.”
When he was working at Impeccable Barbers and Stylists, the owner gave him pointers on how to own his own shop one day.
He took these lessons to Bowling Green, ready to take over for the previous owner of his store.
Despite being in the midst of the coronavirus when he first opened up, he saw support from the community and has received lots of positive feedback.
“More phone calls, more walk-ins and a lot of congratulations from the community, people I know, family and friends. And people I didn’t even know were commenting on the posts I made and saying congratulations,” he said.
And the Black community has shown their support as well and taken his story as proof that they can do what he’s done.
“It’s helped (Black) people put things in action. They might’ve had things they were brainstorming about, so for me to open up a shop and give people hope to say, ‘We can do legal things and have legal business fronts,’ and have no backdoor business at all. We can do everything up front and legit. I think that’ll definitely prompt people to put their plans in action,” he said.
Now that he holds this unique position, he hopes he can inspire other Black entrepreneurs to fight the stereotype of running illegal side hustles out of the back door and take the next step toward their goals.
“It’s a stepping stone, especially at this age (22 years old),” he said. “It’s a big point to get across and it mattered to me, especially during COVID and the (Black Lives Matter) protests, me being the first Black-owned barbershop.”
He could be in the same position in a different state with hundreds of other barbershops and it would still be an important example, he said.
“The thought of this being my family’s first business front is crazy. This is a real storefront and a real establishment. It was a big deal for my family just as much as it was for the town, with no access to a Black barber. This is a stepping stone for people like me in Bowling Green with hopes of opening up a business,” he said.
Even though he now owns his own barbershop, Johnson isn’t content stopping there, as he plans to nurture his entrepreneurial spirit even more.
He currently runs a YouTube channel, “TadaClipzTV,” where he posts personal vlogs and haircut tutorials. He hasn’t posted a video in over a year, but he plans to “get it up to par” when he’s settled in, teaching fading techniques and other haircutting methods.
He also plans to sell various hair care products and move beyond his industry into real estate, by renting houses through Airbnb, and even testing the waters in the stock market.
“I definitely want to maximize my opportunities within the barber industry. But outside of being a barber I would love to indulge in real estate, stocks, YouTube,” he said.
But it all comes back to his roots in the industry, and as a Black-owned barbershop, he recognizes that there’s a need for them elsewhere too.
“I might even do some franchises too. I might open up another one in a small town where there’s a demand for a Black barber, or just a barber in general, that provides more of an in-depth service rather than the standard Great Clips cut,” he said.
But wherever his clippers take him, he knows the confidence a fresh cut can give someone, and plans to give that to others for years to come.
