The New Era Barbershop on Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus has served as “the poor man’s country club” for students on campus, according to shop owner Angel Santana.
“When you think about the country club feel, it’s a membership. It’s people that get together and talk about politics, sports or anything,” said Santana. “The barbershop, to me, gives us the opportunity just to talk.”
The barbershop is located in the heart of campus, right across the Breezeway food court, and has served as a convenient location for students to fit a haircut into an already hectic schedule. According to Santana, the shop has been around for about 12 years now. He says that the shop was originally located in the Student Union and moved around campus a total of three times.
Jaylen Wright, an FAU junior from Cape Coral, Fla., was worried about where he would get his haircut after moving to the opposite coast for school. He was wary about going to the barbershop on campus, citing that “barbershops on campuses usually don’t have a good rep behind them.”
“My hair is a big part of who I am. I love it very much, so to have somebody cut it, I was really nervous, especially someone who’s never touched it before,” said Wright.
However, after working through the nerves of setting foot in the barbershop, he made the decision to give ‘New Era’ a try. He’s been getting his haircut by Luis Santiago, one of the resident barbers, for three years now.
“[Those nerves] quickly went away honestly because he was a super chill dude, and I was really impressed with how it came out,” said Wright.
Santiago was a line cook before he picked up clippers. Dealing with financial difficulties, he knew that he needed to make a change. “[Being a barber] gave me a sense of direction and changed my life… it was this or nothing,” said Santiago.
Although it was life’s challenges that brought Santiago to his career as a barber, he appreciates the community aspect of the barbershop, which has a way of bringing people together.
“It’s a beautiful campus. You meet doctors, lawyers, people that are trying to become scientists or entrepreneurs. You meet so many people from different backgrounds,” said Santiago.
Not everyone who steps into the shop is looking for a cut, like Devyn Alyce, a senior from Ontario, Canada, who transferred to FAU last year.
The first time Alyce stepped into the barbershop was to accompany her friend getting a haircut. She was also nervous, stating that she “didn’t want to overstep any boundaries” because she wasn’t sure how “a barbershop really worked.”
She said that one of the barbers asked her why she was so quiet, a simple question that served as an opener to her feeling welcome in the shop.
“Ever since then, I’ve been sitting in [the shop] talking to the barbers, just talking about every day, talking to the people who come in there and get their haircut. It’s just an opening environment for conversation,” said Alyce.
Although New Era focuses primarily on barbershop services that cater to male haircuts, “at the end of the day, you can still come through and get a cut. We accept everybody,” said Santiago.
This environment that Santana and the barbers of the shop have fostered on FAU’s campus goes deeper than providing a physical service.
“I consider Angel like a second dad, He gives advice through the roof,” said Alyce. “He’s not going to sugarcoat it. He gets straight to the point, straight to solutions, and I find that so inviting, especially being so far away from my actual family. It’s almost like a second family for me.”
Wright shared a similar sentiment, saying that the barbers in the shop are the type of people you can talk to after having a “really rough day.”
“Since [the barbers] are a little bit older than the people that walk in there, they kind of feel like an older brother figure in a way,” Wright says.
The barbershop’s clientele goes beyond the people that are on campus.
“It’s the best shop. Everyone is chill, cool, laid back and they know how to cut [hair],” said Deiontavius Glinton, a day trader from the Palm Beach County area.
A friend who attended FAU recommended Glinton come to the shop initially. Glinton has been getting his haircut by Noel “the Barber” and Shawn Acevedo, two other resident barbers, for three years now.
Noel, who declined to share his last name, landed his career as a barber in a similar fashion as Santiago.
“I was always into my hair… [Cutting hair] was a hobby at first. It transitioned to my friends ‘cause they saw me cutting my hair,’” he said. He revealed that growing up, his mother couldn’t afford haircuts for him and his four brothers, so she would cut their hair herself. However, she would “jack them up,” Noel said, taking over the responsibility by the time he was 13 years old.
Being that the primary focus of the shop is to leave their clients with a fresh haircut, Santana makes sure that he and the barbers facilitate an environment that the students want to gravitate to.
“If [the shop] is a place that one can come in and just feel comfortable with themselves and happy and safe, I feel like I’ve accomplished my job,” said Santana. “Obviously we cut hair, that’s how we earn our earnings, but in regards to building a relationship and building what I consider a family, that’s what I strive for. That’s what we strive for at the shop.”
JD Delcastillo is the Managing Editor for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email him at [email protected], DM on Instagram @jd.delcastillo or on X (Twitter) @jd_delcastillo.
