Laron Criswell sat back in his chair reveling in the mid-afternoon silence before the rush of kids getting out of school would soon file into Shears Beauty and Barber Shop in Bayview.
Minutes earlier, Criswell made the last finishing touches on a young boy’s hair with a definitive flick of his electric clipper. The child rubbed his scalp, feeling his new, cropped haircut. He mumbled a quick “thank you,” and hopped off the barber chair with effort, stretching to reach the ground.
Every year, Criswell and his co-owner Kevin Traksley scrounge money together, lay out their scissors and lower their barber chairs to a child-sized height for free haircuts and a backpack giveaway. They also provide discounted haircuts for foster youth and families. “We like to give back,” said Criswell. “We know the people and the people know us. It’s a very loving community.”
And, he added, “A haircut ain’t nothing. It’s a give and a take.”
This year, the shop got an extra hand from local nurse Widmear “Wid” Jean-Mary, the director of a Bay Area event group “A Thing to Talk About,” who used the remainder of his nursing check to pay for haircuts for 38 kids.
Jean-Mary and his business partner sat and watched this August as kids began to fill the small room. Two cousins darted around the shop, playing hide and seek, they described. Another young student sat obediently as Criswell took out his clippers and doled out motivational advice, encouraging him to stay in school.
“I talk a whole lot of smack,” said Criswell, when asked about the alleged motivational advice.
Criswell and Traksley’s parents inherited the shop from their grandfather, Howard Crowther, who purchased the business in 1971 from the owner of Lillie’s Beauty and Barbershop. Sitting on Third and Newhall Street since 1949, the barbershop has served some notable clients.
In the 1960s, the shop was considered the “unofficial barber for the San Francisco Giants,” according to the business’s application for San Francisco’s legacy business registry. “San Francisco Giants legends, such as the Alou brothers, were regular patrons,” the application read.
Today, the business is one of the oldest barbershops and Black-owned businesses in San Francisco — a rare gem as many Black-owned businesses shutter across the historically Black neighborhood.
“I’m just trying to keep my grandfather’s legacy alive,” said Criswell.
Criswell has been sweeping floors and cutting hair at the shop since 1997, and Traksley since 1998. But Criswell says he hasn’t yet gotten tired of it.
“It’s always rewarding,” he said.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, an eerie silence took over Bayview’s commercial corridor, and the hustle and bustle — and cash flow to local businesses — has been slow to return. It’s quieter, he said, than ever before.
“Usually I’d have to be standing to talk to you,” said Criswell, sitting in the barbershop chair on a day without children around.
But the barbershop is still the neighborhood haunt for many of Criswell and Traksley’s regulars, who Criswell said, often don’t come for a haircut. With a slight smile, Criswell begrudgingly noted he often makes them sweep the floors. On Wednesday afternoon, one regular stopped by just to make sure Criswell tried one of his egg rolls.
Still, it’s rewarding work, noted Criswell. He likes noticing his work on the street.
“I like to make my neighborhood look better one head at a time,” he said.
