Keon Washington, owner of Wavelengths Hair Studio in Greenville, SC, calls his craft “hair art.”
Photo by Matthew Franklin Carter
Keon Washington
Age: 38.
Resides in: Greenville.
Claim to fame: A self-described master hair care specialist, Washington owns Wavelengths Hair Studio and is known for his creative freestyle hair designs and welcoming demeanor, especially for customers who are nonverbal and have other special needs.
Storyteller: He’s also a hip-hop artist, performing as Story the Word Smith, who’s released close to 50 songs. His current favorite is “House Party,” which he calls a South Carolina anthem.
Everyone has a story. And when a person sits in Keon Washington’s barber chair, the storyteller begins his work.
One client’s story may be expressed in the wail of a wolf that stretches from ear to forehead. Another person may be hurting with cancer and treatments that leave their hair falling away in clumps, but they smile through grateful tears as a bald spot is transformed into a beautiful style. For another, satisfaction comes from a simple cut, the soothing sounds of a trimmer bringing comfort.
“I love people,” says Washington, who has been cutting hair for close to 25 years. “I don’t sell haircuts. I sell confidence and community.”
Freestyle barbering requires fine-tuned skills and earned trust, similar to a mechanic. But it also invites a certain creative flair that originates from the barber’s inner artist. Washington calls his craft “hair art.”
“I believe everything is art. It’s a weapon of mass creation.”
Washington was featured earlier this year in a local TV segment highlighting his barbering relationship with a nonverbal man named Caleb. Washington spoke to Caleb with his eyes, and the two moved together in an easy flow. Caleb left with a tapered cut, a smile on his face and a new friend.
Washington remembers, as a boy, moving from Virginia to Greenville with his mother and four siblings. People solely judged him by the color of his skin, and that hurt.
“I never want anybody to feel that way,” Washington says.
While some of his creativity comes from his father, Washington says his mother taught him to be a man. He owes her much, as she mostly raised her children on her own. Of her four boys, two have passed and another is serving a 38-year prison sentence.
Those experiences have shown Washington that life is a gift, and he’s embraced a posture of voluntary servitude.
“If I can be a good thing in other people’s lives, that’s what I feel like I should do,” he says. “… At some point in time, we’re all going to need somebody else. And I believe a reflection of how you treat others is how you’ll be treated.”