Barbering
My name is Calen Koenig. I was born in the High Desert in Hesperia, California, but my family moved to Arizona when I was 4. That’s really where most of my childhood influences come from. Growing up, I was the only white kid in my neighborhood, so I learned a lot of Spanish and ate a lot of chili watermelon suckers. I always had a love for older times and cars and antiques. At 12 years old, I would stay up late and record the local radio station on cassette tapes. (How antiquated is that sentence?) Old Jazz and big band stuff from the 30s and 40s. This sparked a deep love for music. I started playing guitar as a teenager, and my buddies and I started a Rockabilly band. I was the only kid at my high school with a huge Pompadour, 5-inch cuffs on my jeans, and rolled up t-shirt sleeves. Some of the kids didn’t know how to take it and made half-hearted attempts to tease me, but they fizzled out pretty quickly. At my graduation party, I met a girl that I ended up talking to for a couple years and eventually started a relationship with. She lived in the Pacific Northwest. So, wanting to see where this would go, I moved to Portland, Oregon. The relationship didn’t last, but I enjoyed a wonderful 10 years living up there. I made many good friends, discovered my passion for cutting hair, battled severe anxiety and depression, got a significant handle on both, and even met my wife. It was a very eventful time of my life, and I look at it fondly. But living in a city wasn’t my thing, especially one as soggy as Portland, so I moved back home. To my surprise, my wife loves my hometown more than I did, so we moved back to Williams, and I have to say it’s much better the second time around. Now, just to round things out, I took a DNA test and found out I’m mostly Scandinavian. So there’s a deeper look into the question of who I am and where I’m from.
Let’s start with an introduction! Who are you? Where are you from? Where are you living currently?
So you own a barber shop in small-town Arizona. Tell us more about it!
It’s honestly something I never saw coming. That’s what’s fun about life. You can plan all you want, and even though I have a general overarching outline of how I’d like this thing to go (life), you never know where exactly it’ll take you. As far as I can tell, this is the 6th barber shop to operate in my town in the last 140 years. I knew the previous barber and got my haircut from him when I was a child, and he had been operating for about 40 years by himself, so it’s cool to carry on that legacy in a way. The shop is located in a little Wild West town the locals fondly call “Tiny Town.” It pretty much just consists of my business and a locals’ saloon. When I moved back here, I was surprised at how much Williams had changed. In 2009, you could have your pick of whichever
storefront you wanted. In 2019 however, even with all my connections, I couldn’t find any space to operate. It wasn’t until I talked to the Mayor of all people, and asked if he knew where I could set up a place. He happened to be the manager of the Wild West town and showed me an old closet full of junk and said, “you can rent this if you want.” And… I did! It’s only about 120 sq ft, but it’s just big enough for the 2 chairs. My old Rockabilly band-mate joined me at the shop about a year ago. He has actually cut hair longer than me but never had the opportunity to get his license. His only option was to enroll in a school down in Phoenix (2 ½ hours away) and go to school 5 days a week for a year and a half… until I showed up. I was able to get certified as a Barber trainer and enroll him in an apprenticeship. So he’s been able to cut hair with me and become a full-fledged barber that way. It’s been a crazy ride but tons of fun.
How did you end up becoming a barber?
That was really the craziest ride of all. I grew up working around construction. And when I got to Portland in 2009, nobody was building, so the skills I did have brought me into Heating and Air Conditioning. Now, I have to say, Growing up, my parents were wonderful… they taught me many great lessons: how to try my best to be an honorable man, a good work ethic, how to contribute to a good functioning relationship… but career or any specific secular path to follow, was not there. Which are a blessing and a curse. I appreciate very much that they didn’t load me down with expectations. But it brought up the complication that I didn’t necessarily have a direction to throw my energy toward. Fortunately, I was set up to work really hard at whatever was getting funneled to me. It wasn’t until I was 25 that a different path sifted its way in. I had just been laid off from my job and was collecting unemployment and fiercely looking for some form of income. My cousin and his wife just returned from a weekend in Vegas, and I picked them up from the airport. As they told me about their trip, my cous-
in was really excited to tell me about a barber shop he had visited there. “It was real old school, guys were waiting and talking… and the barbers used the real straight razors and everything…”. The light bulb exploded in my head. I said out loud… “Dude! I should do that!”
My whole past of living in a small community, being in a rockabilly band, and understanding the culture just all fell into place perfectly. My roommate thought I was nuts. A bunch of people thought I was crazy to go from repairing air conditioners to cutting hair. But In my mind, I figured, “it’s gotta be easier than crawling under houses and laying on top of dead cats.” (Also a true story) Thankfully being laid off allowed me to return to school and still collect some money. It still wasn’t enough, though. I started going to school 4 days a week and used one day to help a friend do construction, where I got paid the extra $100/day I needed to make ends meet. I spent most of that time eating rice and frozen vegetables, and once a week, I would splurge on some chicken wings from Whiskey Soda Lounge. In Oregon, the schools can be competency-based, so I got done in 5 months and never looked back.
What do you love about your job?
I love that getting a haircut or shave is something people can look forward to. Like going to get a massage… it breaks up the ordinary, and you know you’ll feel better afterward, and the best part is: you don’t have to do anything. You just show up. That’s what I want every service to be like at my shop. People get into ruts. Whether we like it or not. The list of things to do doesn’t go away. And speaking from experience, we can always be on the go… wake up, gotta do this, then that, then get home, do this, make dinner, eat dinner, get cleaned up, go to bed, and do it again. I love those daily moments that change that. For instance, pour a cup of coffee, sit down, breathe… that’s a good moment. When you come into a barber shop and sit in the chair, you have to stop your to-do list. Life isn’t demanding anything from you for that 30 minutes except to just stop. Talk with a human about what’s going on in your life. Or don’t! But you GET TO just pause. We can’t always throw down the cash to go to a beach somewhere or take a week or two off of work. But we can get a haircut. We can have a great cup of coffee. We can ride that motorcycle a few miles. That’s a daily victory.
What are some of the obstacles and challenges
Electric barbering?
All of ‘em. Creating a business is so fascinating to me because it’s literally creating something from nothing. There’s nothing, and then there are some chemicals in your brain and you move things around in the physical world and then eventually you have a building and stuff in it and money coming in and it is enough to keep you alive. Nuts huh? The first challenge that stands out is just being accepted in the community. Coming to a small town and charging the national average price for a haircut didn’t sit well with many. And even offering the convenience of booking online made people upset. It’s taken about 3 years to finally get a solid base showing up just because people were resistant to change. The biggest challenge, however, was probably going back to that, having a direction to throw my energy toward. The formation of my brand and business has definitely not been linear. I’ve been an educator, first working in a barber school. Then when that didn’t pan out, I tried just doing online education but was unsuccessful at generating income or standing out from others. For a brief time, I tried to become a mobile barber, but once again, time=Money ratio left me with no energy or funds. It’s been nearly 10 years of trying different things out and a lot of failed ideas before the business took on a shape that I could share with others or have any hope of reproducing.
you have faced with
We have a special place in our hearts for small brands and start-ups? Do you have any advice for people who want to start their own company but don’t know where to start?
We live in a great time for finding information on the thing that interests you. Even compared to 10 years ago, it’s staggering how much is out there. It’s hard to know what you’re interested in, though, sometimes I think what can get overlooked is something that you already have inside of you. Think about what types of businesses you enjoy. What brands do you have interactions with that you walk away from feeling edified. Can you boil that down to the specifics that made you feel different from a similar business in the same category? Learn all general aspects of that business and then over-deliver on just one of them. And if all else fails, get a simple skill and then market to the people who will pay the most for it.
Your brand really stands out to us. It’s beautiful and looks so good. Do you have a background in art or branding?
Absolutely not. The only art I ventured into heavily was music. I would like to think that I can take some credit for curating certain elements. In my gut, I feel like I can look at something and tell if it goes well with another thing. I guess photography has been an interest of mine the past 5 or 6 years. With that, I’ve tried to create an attractive window of Electric Barbering for people to look into and see what I see.
So this is a moto-themed magazine which means at some point, we have to talk about motorcycles. How have motorcycles impacted your life?
Sadly, I didn’t have much to do with them until I was about 28 years old. I rode dirt bikes a few times when I was younger and crashed into chainlink fences and rolled them on top of myself, so I stayed away for about 13 years. But now, they are something I get a lot of joy out of. It’s very cathartic to do maintenance on a bike, and just being able to hop on and have an amusement park-level experience in about 5 minutes it’s just amazing.
What was your first motorcycle?
1982 Honda Goldwing 1100cc. It started out as a hand-me-down to my brother. He then rode it from Arizona to just about somewhere north of Sonoma county California and the motor seized up. He bought another engine in San Francisco on Craigslist, swapped the motor in my uncle’s back yard, and finished riding to Portland where he gave me the bike.
What’s the most memorable ride you have been on?
South of my town is a road that is about 25 miles that connects to an old mining town. Every time I get out there, it feels like a different world. It’s a pretty isolated place, so I am usually all alone. It’s my favorite place.
Can
The book Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance really sparked the fire in me. I started reading it before I even had a bike idea, and some of those quotes really got me. Then when I got my endorsement, the instructor told me, “when you get on the bike, leave everything behind. Riding is not a place to think about your problems. When you get on the bike, you think about the road and the people around you and pay attention to the machine.” Seemed like a great metaphor for life.
you share a quote or an idea that has helped guide you in your journey?
What advice would you give people who want to start riding but don’t know where to start?
I would start in the dirt or the gravel, if you can, on an old dirt bike. Somewhere you can lay the bike down, and it’ll be ok. Fall before you can go fast. Once you can ride on gravel, you can ride nearly anywhere. That doesn’t mean you’ll fall a lot. Just fall where it’s safe. Once you get on the road after that, it’ll feel like you’ve been riding your whole life.
Is there a trip, ride, or event you dream of taking?
I really would love to do the amazing Argentina to Alaska trip, but more realistically, I will do highway 89 one day. Starts at the Mexican border in Saguaro National park and takes you up to the Grand Canyon. Then in Utah, Bryce Canyon and Zion National park. Then passes the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and heads up through Glacier, and ends at the Canadian border..
What does the future hold for Electric Barbering?
Unless I get crypto-rich and retire in Thailand (the new lottery dream), I’ve recently started thinking it’d be an adventure to see our barber shop in international cities… Barcelona, Copenhagen, Antwerp. Not a huge corporate expansion but only a handful of interesting cities I love. But just getting a 3rd chair in my current shop wouldn’t be bad either.
What is The Slow Blend
sam wake
PICTURES: sam wake @samwake_ WORDS: sam wake @samwake_
How is it that in this technologically advanced world, the human race seems more worn out, stressed, anxious, and overworked than ever before in history?
It’s fascinating that despite all of our accomplishments. the internet, smartphones, ai technology, cities, jets that can fly us anywhere in the world, grocery stores with an endless supply of food, robots that do the work for us, etc. etc.... inner peace still eludes us.
This is why at Kids & Cobras, we roast the Slow Blend. The Slow Blend is an invitation to... you guessed it...
...slow down.
It’s our belief that we can’t fully enjoy the journey of life if we’re in 5th gear all the time. Sometimes we have to shift down, recharge the battery, and drop the kickstand to let things cool off for a bit. What’s the point of riding a motorcycle on some of the most beautiful backroads America offers if you never pull off to rest and enjoy the views.
A thoughtful approach to life is needed if we want to live without regrets. And thoughtfulness seems to be more possible when we slow down our pace.
Talk less and listen more.
Slow Blend is for the thinkers and drinkers who want to get the most out of this life. It is the “drink slow” to a “ride fast” world. ;)
Here are the specifications of the Blend itself
Flavor Profile:
We think it tastes like eating raspberries & chocolate while wrestling a bear! It has a rich chocolatey sweetness that cuts through milk like butter, making it the perfect coffee for all kinds of drinks. Whether you are making espresso, lattes, an Irish coffee, or brewing it through an old-fashioned coffee pot, this Blend is well balanced to ensure a classic, timeless, and balanced experience.
It’s also available throughout the whole year. We source a diverse range of beans from all over the world to ensure a consistent flavor profile you can rely on.
Slow Blend is approachable and super easy to use. You don’t need a complicated recipe to extract its bold taste making it the perfect companion to slow down, think, sip, and enjoy.
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calen koenig
break up the ordinary
