Adrain Smith: Twins Side by Side Barbershop
Saginaw, Michigan
Whew. Just heard about the passing of Adrain Smith. I met with Adrain and his twin brother, Tard, to hear their story back in September, and it's a great story about family, faith, community, and loving what you do.
Sending out this story again with love for his brother, his family, and a community that lost a great barber AND a great man!
“We've both been cutting hair since we were 14 years old. We have never had another job, and we’ve been here, owning Twins Side by Side Barber Shop, for 25 years. We’re inseparable and there's nothing in life we haven't done together. We got married on the same day, we went to barber school together—the only thing we couldn’t plan out was having our kids at the same time!
When we were younger, we would get our hair cut at an underground barber shop. I can't remember the exact name, but it was the Carter brothers’ underground barber shop. They worked side by side cutting hair and we thought that was nice. We are artists and we like to draw, so we thought if we could draw, we probably could cut hair, too.
Our grandmother gave us an allowance, so, one time, we took the money and decided to go buy some clippers and give it a shot.
We started by cutting each other's hair. Then family members started asking us to cut theirs, and then it grew to friends asking. We found cutting hair exciting. We got married early at age 20 and started our families, and that’s when we knew it was time for us to make more of a career out of it instead of just a hobby. We had families to support.
We enrolled in the Flint Institute of Barbering, Inc., and then we figured we had to find a place for our barbershop because we couldn't just continue to cut hair at the house like we did. We had to get a more professional location. So, we found this place, which was the ice cream parlor a long time ago and we knew the owners. We talked to them and we got it. We took our first steps, then a step after that and so on. Then we ended up as a barbershop and moved here in March of 1998.
It’s uncountable, really, how much hair we’ve cut since then. We’ve run into some interesting people and we get a huge variety of different people from everywhere. Right now, we’ve got a customer coming from Grand Rapids to get his hair cut on the regular. Along with people who live in the city, we get a lot of people doing their residencies at St. Mary's or internships at Dow Chemical or people from Consumers when they come to clean up after storms, or students during their four years in college—from Saginaw Valley State University, Central Michigan, Eastern and more.
One summer, the Detroit Lions did their camp here at Saginaw Valley and some of the players came and got their hair cut here. We've been blessed.
A barber holds a lot of titles, besides just being able to cut hair. Sometimes you could be a marriage counselor, a psychiatrist, a doctor at times, a child specialist, etc. Because people ask you for all types of advice and they pretty much internalize and trust your advice. So, you wear a lot of hats. It's not just about getting your hair cut. Some people pour their heart out to you.
Some people look at barbers as almost like a family member. Your barber is personal to you. You come to relax in a barber shop. It’s that half hour or whatever it takes to get that service of pure relaxation and wind down. A lot of people talk to and feel confidence in their barbers. They tell you their most secret things. It’s about having that personal connection.
Whatever we're talking about, it could be politics, religion, or life, we’re respectful of your decisions. At our barber shop, we don't argue. We have discussions, but our discussions don’t get so heated that we get physical or insult each other. It's nice, because you get all walks of life, really. You can’t imagine the stuff people go through … the stories people come up with and you're like, ‘Wow, I thought this was only in the movies.'
That's what separates a good barber from just a barber. An average barber cuts your hair and sends you on your way. But good barbers create bonds with clients who you start calling friends.
But none of it would have happened without our grandmother, LuLubelle Jones. She was our guiding light and taught us everything. She passed four years ago on September 5.
Whatever she knew, she poured it into us. When we started cutting hair at 14, that was at her house. She taught us how to be professional. She taught us how to be men. She taught us to be respectful. She’s the one who introduced us to God, she kept us in church, and she's is the reason why we're saved today. We give her 100% of the credit.
Life is good. God is good. We love Saginaw and we appreciate everybody from Saginaw. Without Saginaw, this barbershop wouldn't have been possible.”
—Tard and Adrain Smith, Twins Side by Side Barber Shop
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