For Joe Guerra, it all started 35 years ago at 24th and Shotwell streets, in the house where he was born and raised.
Guerra grew up in the Mission, attended Cesar Chavez Elementary, and still recalls the afternoons he went to his Grandma Blanca’s house on Shotwell Street after school to enjoy her Salvadoran cooking.
Nowadays, he’s nearby, at the Mission’s Barbershop at 3160 24th St. Open the door to hear salsa or hip-hop and see Guerra singing or dancing between clients. Dodger fans are allowed, but they should be ready for a spirited debate.
“It’s beautiful. We grew up hanging out here,” said Guerra, who stands about 5 feet 6 inches, stocky with long hair, which he trims himself. ”We used to play baseball in the middle of the street on Shotwell.”
The shop is not far from where he discovered his passion for cutting hair. That happened in 2007, when his uncle Abraham, just home after a stint in prison, asked his 16-year-old nephew to give him a simple bowl cut.
“That’s the first time I ever grabbed a pair of clippers,” Guerra said. “I couldn’t get the line straight. It looked so bad, he went and buzzed it off,” recalled Guerra. This catalyzed Guerra, who was inspired to improve before his uncle asked for another haircut. It was an opportunity that never arose.
His uncle was shot around the corner on Shotwell, Guerra said. Guerra took his uncle’s tragic death as an inspiration to do something different with his life.
“I bought a cheap pair of clippers and started cutting all my boys’ hair,” he said. “I was doing it for free. At most, I’d get like a $3 or $4 tip.” Thanks to his friends, Guerra said his skills improved, and he began charging $20 a haircut as a teenager.
Life intervened. He had to support a young family and put his passion “on pause” while he worked at a warehouse. But when the Bay Area Hair Institute opened up in South San Francisco in 2011, he enrolled, and graduated in 2012. The following year, he started working at a barber shop at 24th and Potrero streets.
Guerra said it was intimidating being around experienced barbers, but he made the best out of every opportunity someone gave him when they sat in his chair.
“You want to treat every cut like it’s your first one,” he said. “You want to impress your client every single time.”
“Every client that walks out is a walking billboard,” he said. Guerra believes that great work will always bring you more work and profit, and has kept him in business.
At the shop, he mentors young barbers and enjoys giving them a hard time when they come in for work.
“Look who finally decided to show up,” he says with a big smile as one of them comes in. The younger barbers will often sweep hair from Guerra’s station, who is often booked the entire day.
“Thank you. I really appreciate that,” he said to one afterward.
Guerra advises barbers to be patient but also to promote themselves on social media. That’s something he wasn’t used to when he started more than a decade ago. Now, his 18-year-old daughter, who will be attending San Francisco State University in the fall, is his social media strategist.
“I would literally walk down from 24th and Potrero to 24th and Mission and hand out cards,” he said.
By 2018, he was ready to open his own shop. Guerra said he researched online about licenses and how to open a barber shop. He hasn’t had any issues dealing with the city’s bureaucracy.
His biggest support system is his family. His wife of 20 years, Estefani Guerra, and his two kids, now 18 and 11 are the people he credits for his success.
His biggest challenge came during the COVID-19 pandemic, when all the city’s barber shops closed.
He survived thanks to his mother’s early advice.
“My mom always told me as a kid, ‘You’re gonna have rainy days,’” he said. “So you have to have some money in your pocket.” He did.
For anyone looking to start a barber shop, Guerra advises forming a limited liability company to protect their personal assets from possible litigation that could arise from owning a business.
“It’s a little more expensive, but I do feel it’s better to pay a little more in the beginning than to pay a lot more in the long run,” he said.
Haircut pricing is a big topic on social media. With a debate between consumers angry over rising prices and barbers attempting to make a living. Guerra said he keeps his prices at $50 (with discounts for seniors and children under 12) because it keeps people coming back. He said he prefers repeat customers over raising prices.
“I don’t really think $100 is fair,” Guerra said. He’s lost some clients who can’t manage $50, but he’s running a business and has to do what’s in the best interest of the barber shop. Many of his regulars, like him, grew up in the Mission. Nostalgic conversations of Jelly Donuts at 24th Street, Willie’s Barber Shop at 22nd Street (now closed), and neighborhood tales are common in the shop.
Guerra currently rents out four booths at his barber shop to a team that includes his longtime friend Sam and his nephew Oscar. Since it opened in 2018, The Mission’s Barbershop has held an annual Christmas gift giveaway. Guerra said last year about 1,000 people showed up to receive gifts and food.
“If God allows me,” Guerra said, “I just want to do what I love, and that’s cutting hair.”
