Mike Henderson, 54, opened Big Mike’s Cuts on Eddy Street in 2008. By 2014 he was making sandwiches for the kids who came in after school. By 2018 he had a small library in the back room. By 2021 he had three couches, a tutor named Ms. Janet who comes Tuesday and Thursday, and a sign on the door that reads HOMEWORK BEFORE CUT.
“It started because a boy named Marcus came in for a fade and his stomach was growling,” Mike says. “I asked him when he ate last. He said yesterday. I made him a sandwich. The next day he came back with a friend. The friend was hungrier.”
There is no formal program. The shop runs on the cuts Mike charges adults ($35) and on a small stream of donations from regulars and from the families of kids who used to come and now come in to thank him. Last year, $12,400 in donations. He spent it on groceries, school supplies, and a new water heater.
On any given afternoon, between 3 and 6 p.m., the shop has more kids than customers. The kids do their homework on the couches. Ms. Janet helps with math. Mike cuts hair and listens. The deal is: homework before haircut. If a kid has no homework, they read a book from the back room before the chair.
“I am not a social worker,” Mike says. “I am a barber. But a barber who knew me when I was 14 saved my life. I have not forgotten.”
The shop has been broken into twice. The cash register was cleaned out once. Both times, regulars from the neighborhood started a small collection to replace what was taken. The second time, a fifth grader named Davion brought in $4 in quarters from his piggy bank.
Davion is 15 now. He is applying to City College for the fall. He does his homework on the couch closest to the door because, he says, he likes to see who comes in.
Mike says he will keep the shop open as long as his hands hold up. The barber who saved him at 14 closed his shop in 2003 and died three years later. Mike says he thinks about that man every morning when he turns the OPEN sign.
