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It’s a sunny Saturday morning at the Tea Rooms and at the time we meet with The Nomad Barber his most recent YouTube tutorial has been live for only 8 hours and already has 3,000 hits. It’s fair to say that Miguel Gutierrez isn’t your average barber.
The Nomad Barber started out in a family run barber shop in Liverpool, quickly working his way up the ranks and soon began working in some of the most exclusive men’s grooming establishments, both in the UK and abroad. Having recently won the 2013 American Crew face/off awards his work was, and still is highly praised, having cut and styled the hair of models in an array of photo shoots and fashion shows. But how he became such an internet sensation is another story.
Ten years to the day he started his career he embarked on the trip of a lifetime to discover the secrets and history of barbering worldwide, travelling to five continents in 12 months. This journey soon became an online documentary style blog, as he and a cameraman began documenting pictures, tutorials and episodes exploring the different countries and cultures they visited. His YouTube channel now stands at just over 30,000 subscribers and keeps the journey alive with regular hair tutorials, some of which are filmed in The Tea Rooms.
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What made you get into barbering initially?
I started when I was 16 and I was basically failing at all my exams and I didn’t want to go to university, so, instead of doing something academic I wanted to learn a trade and it turns out one of my dad’s friends was a barber and he always had like a nice car, nice house, stuff like that. He got in the business side of things and that’s what drove me to do it. I didn’t want to be standing outside in the cold, getting dirty being a plumber or something.
You’ve recently got back from your year of travelling, how was that?
It was just mind-blowing, an incredible experience. It started as just me and a friend going travelling then filming me doing haircuts in cool places and then it kind of just grew and grew into a documentary style thing, discovering different cultures of the barber shop.
What was one of the most interesting places you visited?
India, everything about India, the barber shop culture is just incredible and as a place it’s like nowhere else in the world, it’s dirty, it’s crazy, you get sick all the time. It’s a place that unless you go there you can’t really put into words.
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What were some of the major differences you noticed globally compared to English barber culture?
Everywhere had a different culture and they had some similarities too, the barber shop is still a place for guys to go, unwind and talk about women, politics and sports. But the main thing that changes is how people get into barbering, it’s not through choice in a lot of countries, people are born into it because of the racial cast systems. So in India because they’re a certain cast, they’re born into it and they have to do it.
Is that it for travelling now?
I’m going to travel again more but it won’t be for a year at a time, I’m in talks with TV at the moment to potentially do something shorter term and more direct to places rather than backpacking around.
What made you choose the Truman Brewery to set up shop?
I was speaking about the Tea Rooms before I left actually, about doing a pop up shop but it just didn’t work out in time because I was so busy before I left. It’s ideal for me here because I still get to do the video production in the week and then come here and cut on weekends. It’s really cool, it’s a bit different having this style of barber shop, and it’s kinda livened it up a bit. It’s a very visual thing as well so people stand and watch too.
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What made you choose Tea Rooms over the other markets?
Originally I was meant to be in the UpMarket on Sundays but obviously we’ve got barber chairs and it was going to be a lot of hassle bringing them in every week bringing it up and down stairs so it picked itself in a way. I’ve been to the Backyard Market and of course, UpMarket, I’ve lived round here for years.
What are the most popular styles at the moment?
People are starting to go super short on the sides, some even a zero on the sides, which I love because I’ve always been into fifties rock n roll, so I love that kind of hair style.
Finally, what’s in the pipeline for the future?
I want to expand the channel so we have more hair cut tutorials, product reviews, episodes and hopefully do something on TV. Looking to the future I’d like to open a shop but I’d definitely like to stay around The Truman Brewery.
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www.thenomadbarber.com
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Interview by Tayla Mead
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