‘Just a little trim’: Spokane barber shop gives free haircuts to families at Holmes Elementary

Darren Cromeenes, vice principal at Holmes Elementary, has been getting his haircuts at the Man Shop for years. Now, dozens of his students have gotten Man Shop cuts as well.

Eight stylists from the Man Shop, a Spokane-based barber business, were at Holmes Elementary for three hours Thursday, giving free haircuts to students and their families.

“It just was something that popped into my head as I was getting my haircut a few weeks ago,” Cromeenes said, explaining how the event came about.

Holmes Elementary is a Title 1 school, meaning it has a high population of students from low-income families.

“I’ve worked at title buildings and high-needs buildings for several years, and one of my students had said something to me about his mom cutting his hair,” Cromeenes said.

He pitched an idea to his stylist, Jordan Strong.

“I asked them if they’d be willing to donate some of their time to provide haircuts to our students who maybe otherwise their families wouldn’t be able to afford them. Take two kids out to get your haircut, that’s going to be a $50 bill and, for a lot of our families, that’s out of their reach,” he said.

Strong thought it was a great idea.

“As soon as he left, I messaged our general manager,” she said.

As Wendy Jordan, the general manager, was coordinating the “cuts for kids” day, there was a lot of enthusiasm from stylists.

“We had a good amount of our people that wanted to come,” Jordan said. “They were super excited to come and do this.”

Reactions among the children were less consistent.

Timothy Finch, 4, shied away from the hair clippers at the beginning of his cut, but when his stylist finished, he grinned into the mirror that was held up for him and made silly faces as the stylist ran a blow dryer through his hair.

It was the first haircut for Christina Ziegler’s son, 2-year-old Xavier. As a stylist trimmed his head of curls, he chose to spend the time napping.

Xavier came with his mother and sister Lucy, 6, a first-grader at Holmes. Ziegler hadn’t planned to come to the haircutting event at first, but she was happy she did.

“I’m glad that they came here, that the Man Shop came to give out free haircuts,” she said.

Raelynne Hurley, in second grade, had a plan for her new hairstyle.

“I want just a little trim and then curtain bangs by my face,” she said.

She peppered her stylist with questions as she sat in the chair.

“Have you done curtain bangs before?” she asked, “Are you good at ’ em?”

“All my beautiful hair,” she said as trimmings of her hair fell to the floor.

Dan Morse brought his granddaughter Charllotte Kendal, in preschool, for a trim.

“She was a little standoffish because she just woke up,” he said. But when the stylist held up the mirror to show her her new hair, her jaw dropped.

“It was really cool,” Morse said of the event, “especially that they’re helping families around here.”

The Man Shop gave close to 100 haircuts Thursday.

“It is not just about saving the families money, but making them feel that there is a community partnership with businesses that care about them, that the school is more than just a school, that it’s really kind of a community hub, and we want our families in West Central to feel like this is a place that they can be,” Cromeenes said.