Today we’d like to introduce you to Jose Barajas.
Hi Jose, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My barber journey started at 10 years old when I picked up my first pair of clippers. I was living on the west side of San Antonio in the Alazan Apache Courts. I witnessed my cousin use clippers to cut his hair so I just did the same. I continued learning how to use these clippers without the proper education on fades or regular maintenance.
I was a huge basketball fan and spent every Saturday morning watching NBA inside stuff and one day a barber was featured on the show with Anthony Mason who played for the New York Knicks. He was known for his unique haircuts with words and designs. I was blown away and was a pretty good artist by this time so I was so inspired I got my little brother and did the USA dream team logo on his head. This was in 1992.
I then continued doing logos on his head and cut multiple friends and relatives and got better. I purchased more expensive clippers and just kept doing it as a hobby all the way up to high school. I never knew about barber college or earning a license so I would just cut hair as a side thing and wanted better equipment so I started charging five dollars per cut.
I had a beeper number of people who would contact me and I would go to their house and deliver a fade. Not having any barber education I just developed my own technique and got pretty good. By 2002, I was known for my haircuts and designs around my area.
No access to social media or mentors I just made it happen. I had people lining up to get haircuts near a neighborhood basketball court and was cutting on my friend’s front porch when his mom asked me why I don’t go to barber college?
I didn’t know that even was a possibility but knew I wanted to dedicate my talent to this craft and become a professional. I then attended Williams Barber College. I learned the professionalism and mindset of a businessman and grew my dream. It took me two years to finish school while I was working an overnight shift at Frito Lay and also raising my four boys at the time. My fifth son was born in 2005 the year I graduated and received my license.
From then on I dedicated my life to becoming successful and not allowing anything to stop me. I was known for fades and custom logos but needed to separate myself from the herd so I was the first barber in San Antonio and in Texas I can confidently say, that did a full portrait on someone’s head.
It was Tony Parker and the image was from the local newspaper. I was uploading content on YouTube and this was one that got my attention. I continued to do more extravagant designs and uploaded them to YouTube and printed flyers to show the city what we did at Razor Sharp Cutz in 2006. I got better and better with my portraits and people wanted to meet their idols so I was the middleman to make that happen.
I did a Dirk Nowitzki portrait on a true fan and he was fortunate enough to meet Dirk and get his autograph. I also did a Lebron James one and he was blown away and my customer was never the same. I continued to put out content and then in 2012 I uploaded a haircut video of Michael Jordan and it was featured on the main page for Yahoo and my life changed forever. It was posted on ESPN and other sports shows. It was insane.
My YouTube video had well over 1 million views and notifications were flooding my phone so much that my phone froze and shut off. I was at the San Antonio Zoo while this happened. From then on I have had the pleasure of working with the San Antonio Spurs, New York Rangers, countless hair products, and clipper companies, and have won 18 barber competitions.
One was aired on CW with Cedric the Entertainer and I was the first official winner and took home 15k dollars. I have also been fortunate enough to cut my favorite rap artist Lecrae and Andy Mineo. Not to mention some basketball players and CEOs of million-dollar companies. I have experienced so much and finally opened my own barbershop in 2016.
House of Kardz Barbershop and Salon. My last name in Spanish means a deck of cards. I changed the letters to stand out and create my own name. I now am in the process of opening my own school and want to share all my experiences and knowledge with the next generation of barbers.
It’s truly a blessing to be in my position and I appreciate all the ups and downs. I am truly stronger and wiser now and ready for my next chapter in life.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The struggles come from not understanding money and time.
Not having a strong foundation within myself and being naive. I was taken advantage of in 2014 when I joined a partnership without a lawyer or contract and ended up losing over 17k and the business altogether. I have missed birthdays, graduations, and even Spurs finals because I was working out of the city and building my brand.
I have lost friends, money, and time. My skills also made me a target for other barbers to copy my blueprint. It was regarded as flattering by others but for me, I felt as if my identity was being robbed from me. I grew throughout my process and stayed genuine.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My work has been featured in so many news outlets and magazines. I can truly say without a doubt that my connection with the San Antonio Spurs and the title runs we had gone hand in hand with my success. I love my Spurs and relate so much to our team mentality.
No flash, no ego just plain talent and hard work. I’m grateful for all the love and becoming a nationally known barber from San Antonio is a blessing in itself. I have visited almost every big city in the United States and also cut some of Mexico’s national basketball players in Mexico City.
I have been to Canada and Costa Rica and to say that makes me smile because I never imagined accomplishing so much coming from where I’m from. I remember one of my teachers saying to me that I would just end up a statistic in fourth grade.
I didn’t know what that meant at the time but when I did I used that as fuel to make something of myself.
What were you like growing up?
I was always an artist. I love superhero art and drawing all the cartoons. I loved basketball with all my heart. My dream was to make it to the NBA. I had lots of friends growing up but also saw a lot of traumatic things in my neighborhood. It was normal.
I was also adopted at the age of 11 and experienced living in Alamo Heights. I was exposed to art classes and basketball camps. Celebrating birthdays and attending Spurs games in the Hemisphere Arena and Alamodome. I flew on a plane to Dallas and later to Minneapolis.
It was the other end of the spectrum but it really did balance me out throughout my life. I later moved back to my neighborhood because I was expecting my first son and passed on an art scholarship to attend UT in Dallas. It’s been a great life all things considered but I know there is so much more to be experienced.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @MrJoeBarber
- Facebook: Thejoebarber
- Twitter: @Thatjoebarber
- Youtube: MrJoeBarber
- Yelp: House of Kardz Barbershop
