Kassim Abdulraheem cut his first head of hair — his best friend’s — when he was in grade nine. He said he “butchered” the haircut then, but still cuts his friend’s hair to this day.
“He lives in Ottawa… He doesn’t get a haircut anywhere else,” Abdulraheem told CBC Hamilton.
When he was a kid, he used to watch barber videos on an iPad before he went to bed, he said.
Now, at 20, Abdulraheem, also known as Kay, owns a barber shop in downtown Hamilton, Kay Cuts Studios.
He’s one of more than 60 stylists and barbers coming together Saturday to offer free styling and cuts to racialized youth. Hair stylists and barbers have not met like this in Hamilton before, something that Abdulraheem is very excited about.
“This is probably like the best thing Hamilton has had in a while,” he said.
WATCH | Hamilton barber Kassim Abdulraheem on why he loves his job
Abdulraheem is the owner of Kay Cuts Studios in downtown Hamilton and will be one of the over 60 barbers and hair stylists giving out free haircuts and styling to racialized and at-risk youth at a Hamilton high school Saturday.
Abdulraheem opened his barber shop at 483 King Street E. on Feb. 11, 2024, when he was 19 years old. For several years before then, he had been cutting hair in his garage and for other barbers.
He says his work is more than “just cutting hair.”
“It’s an art. It’s also an opportunity to meet so many different people. [On] average, I would cut 15 heads a day. That’s 15 different personalities,” he said.
“You actually get exposed to so many different types of people. It’s one of the best things.”
Building community while barbering
Abdulraheem said one unexpected aspect of owning a barber shop has been the community he’s been able to build in just over a year.
“Everyone just comes and chills here,” he said.
“It’s just amazing. I love it.”
On Saturday, barbers and hair stylists around the city are getting together at Bernie Custis Secondary School, across from Tim Hortons Field, to give free services to racialized and at-risk youth for an event called Excel in Style.
Abdulraheem was born in Iraq and came to Canada from Syria as a young child, he said his mom has instilled in him since he was young to “give and it will return.”
Growing up with a single mom and the youngest of eight siblings, he said he knows what it is like to struggle financially.
“Being able to put kids that are in my position in a better position, even though it’s just by giving them a nice cut, making them feel fresh for back to school. That makes me feel amazing,” said Abdulraheem.
Lohifa Pogoson Acker, who organized the event, said it’s important that young people like Abdulraheem are able to follow lifelong dreams instead of following other education paths they might not be interested in.
‘Hearing people’s stories’ best part says another young barber
Another young business owner in Hamilton Sajjad Bazouni also started cutting hair as a teenager and opened his own place, Blend It Barbershop, when he was 18. He’s now 20.
He was joined by his lifelong friend, Hassen Al-Masoodi, now 18, shortly after as a business partner, and they both work out of the Stoney Creek barbershop.
Bazouni was born and raised in Hamilton, but his family is also from Iraq. He said his little brother was the first to get a haircut from him as a young teen.
“I messed his hair up, but he stuck through, so it came out good,” he told CBC Hamilton.
As someone who’s always been an extrovert and enjoyed making people laugh, his favourite part of the job is hearing people’s stories.
“My favourite moments of this is when someone comes in and hasn’t ever gotten a haircut in a barber shop,” he said.
“I get to give them that extra pop with the haircuts that we kind of do and seeing the reaction after and give that confidence boost that all the clients be getting after their haircut.”
Bazouni will also attend Saturday’s event. He said he’s looking forward to “seeing all the smiles and then the happiness that we’re going to bring.”
Event a first of its kind in Hamilton
Pogoson Acker, a hair stylist and owner of Lo Did That in Hamilton, organized the event after noticing fewer Black youth and others with textured hair have been getting it styled.
She said with cost of living going up, getting their hair done is often not on people’s priorities.
“Hairstyling, especially in Black and racialized … is an important part of their identity, their self confidence or their self perception,” she told CBC Hamilton.
“So when you put that to the wayside, you are really tampering with those three things.”
Pogoson Acker said a team of originally 40 hair stylists and barbers were aiming to cut and style 100 young people. But when over 400 youth registered for Saturday, she had to recruit a few more people, growing the list to 66 barbers and hair stylists and 90 volunteers.
