![\"\"](\"https:\/\/loopnewslive.blob.core.windows.net\/liveimage\/sites\/default\/files\/hair_installations_easy-resize.com__6d5faaa0ef5e01bc03907545570514ec.jpg\" "\\"Crispy")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nCrispy Clean Cuts offers solutions for men with balding and thinning hair<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While barbering started out as a hustle for Peters, who grew up in poverty, it became a business once he realised it was possible to earn a good living from his skill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Growing in Carapo, Arima, Peters spent a lot of time living with his grandmother because he couldn\u2019t get along with his stepfather. A scar over his left eyebrow from an object his stepfather hit him with is a constant reminder of that toxic relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He lived with his grandmother and 11 other occupants in her two-bedroom home that didn\u2019t have electricity. What they did have, however, was an abundance of fruit trees and vegetables so between the bounty from the land and his grandmother\u2019s roti-making skills, they never went hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said his grandmother saw something in him from early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe used to say I was special because even though we didn\u2019t have much I always kept myself looking a certain way. She would iron my clothes on a tawah and I would go back and iron it over because it had to look a certain way,\u201d Peters recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That pride in himself extended to his hair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Peters learned to mark his own hair using a razor blade and a comb. When he had money he earned working part-time at a horse farm, he would go to the barber for a haircut and observe everything they did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He told Loop News that he has the ability to replicate anything by just watching someone do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At Secondary school, his skills brought in some extra cash and he became the go-to person for marking hair. A neighbour who saw him trimming hair with his razor blade bought him a machine, which helped him to work more efficiently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the age of 17, when his grandmother fell ill, Peters moved back home but was forced to leave when his stepfather demanded that his mother put him out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tears welled up in his eyes as he recalled sitting outside of Windsor Cinema in Arima with a bag of clothes wondering where to go. Luckily, a friend passing by offered him the opportunity to stay at a house he owned but was unoccupied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s more than just a haircut at Crispy Clean Cuts<\/p>\n\n\n\n To support himself, Peters found a job working as a barber at a barbershop in Arouca owned by a security firm. He honed his skills cutting hair for security guards at $15 a head. From there he moved to another barbershop in Cane Farm, Trincity, and it was there he realised barbering could be a business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was at that shop I took barbering seriously. The boss, Brent, had accomplished so much off barbering. He had a house, car and a food business. When I asked him if all that is from barbering he said yes and I realised this is a business. I was treating it as a hustle to pay rent and eat so I started to take it seriously and after the first year working there, I saved my money and bought a car,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He stayed at that salon for four years and over time, he kept looking for ways to elevate his craft. He introduced an appointment system for his clients, which the other barbers said wouldn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBack then haircuts were $40 so I decide I am going to charge $60 and work by appointment. I told my clients, you see this set of waiting three\/four hours, let us work by appointment,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With his reputation growing, Peters was given the opportunity to manage a barbershop for someone who lived abroad. He started to attract a lot of DJs, entertainers and other celebrities but over time, he realised he needed to open his own establishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crispy Clean Cuts opened six years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI needed to grow; I wanted to do something different as a barber. That is why I introduced the hair units because I realised there was a need for it,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peters said in the future, he wants to focus more on teaching and training others as it is more lucrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy mission is to show barbers in Trinidad that it is not just about standing up behind the chair. Good work never goes unrecognised and once you are putting out good work you will be recognised,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI want to pave a way for barbers, for too long people see barbering as a hustle and people used to look down on barbers. Nobody looking down on me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The lone chair in the Crispy Clean Cuts Barber Salon is not just a symbol of the personal attention and exclusivity. The chair is also a seat of transformation, where men can boost their self-esteem, get the courage to face the world and conduct their affairs, business and personal, with confidence. For Willon Peters, being a barber is much more…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/loopnewslive.blob.core.windows.net\/liveimage\/sites\/default\/files\/hair_at_crispy_clean_easy-resize.com__cdebfe838f68dc2cfda0abf436921632.jpg\" "\\"It's")
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