Cape Town – A popular Cape Town barber known for ploughing back into the community has done things a bit differently this time around.
Warren Theunis, originally from Mitchells Plain, has been in the barbering industry for over 21 years and is the founder of Groomed for Change.
A project which aims to model new behaviour and show seniors they are not forgotten, he is also one of the founding members of the Barber Association.
Usually, Theunis joins the Heart FM 16 Days for Youth initiative and travels across the Western Cape as he gives haircuts to all.
Every day the teams would be in a new community and Theunis, who would be in his element, would give a proper barber experience not many could afford.
Last year, Theunis did 547 haircuts during the initiative.
But, as he was preparing to sharpen his clippers for another trip, the team approached him and said they wanted to do something different.
This made him think.
“The moment I heard about this. I went home and started thinking about how I can leave a legacy.
“I proposed that I would train and equip young people to do basic barbering and use the trade to build the resources they need for their dreams.
“I reached out to others and thought about giving toolkits to those interested in barbering.
“The concept of teaching a man how to fish was my thinking behind this,” he told IOL.
Theunis said the toolkit is a barbershop in a bag.
On the visit to their first site at the children’s home, Realistic Child and Youth Centre in Crawford, Cape Town, it hit him.
“I looked at the set-up at the children’s home. I want to give the boys a haircut and find out who was interested in barbering. I found two boys. In fact, they had been cutting the hair of the other boys at the centre. They told me they usually just cut in the room,” Theunis explained.
He then approached the management of the children’s home and asked for a space they could use to cut hair.
I was shown a space between the laundry room and what was used as storage. I decided it could be cleaned up and used.
When he moved on to another community, he could not stop thinking about the children’s home.
He decided to build the children’s home its own barbershop.
“I had no budget but I was going to do it. It was not going to be anything fancy, but functional.
“At the weekend, my daughter and I went to Builders Warehouse and created a sort of wish list of how and what we wanted.”
Determined to make it work for the boys at the children’s home, Theunis set out to clear the space needed for the barbershop. When the boys got home from school, they joined in the work on what would later become their very own barbershop. They sanded down walls, outlined everything with masking tape.
“I worked when they were in school. I reached out to a friend who works with aluminium and wanted to have a suspended lighting system. But I told him I had no money and he did it. Started buying the lights,” Theunis said.
While erecting this space, Theunis also taught the boys proper barbering techniques.
Theunis and the boys, even those who were not interested in barbering, took what they had and made the most of it.
“We refurbished a shelf to use in the barbershop. It was a whole DIY project we had going. “We built a barbershop out of nothing,” he said.
They also built a bench, coat hanger and even made a sign on the grounds from materials they scavenged on the grounds of the home.
“So much learning went into this,” Theunis said.
While the boys were excited to be taught about barbering, they were even more excited about opening their own shop. However they lacked one crucial item – a barber’s chair.
“During a radio interview with Wahl, we were on air when the presenter asked for a chair. I couldn’t believe it. They said they will see,” Theunis said. He didn’t get his hopes up, however.
A representative from BR catering and events walked into the barbershop, and showed Theunis a chair he could use. Later the same day he came back and said he was not happy with the chair, but quickly saved the day. He had bought a brand-new barber’s chair for the barbershop.
“In that moment I was like, what just happened? It’s ridiculous how this came together.
“There was so much introspection and reflection for me
“As much as it was amazing for the boys as to, oh wow look what we did, it was amazing to me to see how God just comes through and he just acts on our faith.
“I go out and say I am not going to just teach and then how God just honours that. As much as I want to go out and serve the community and teach the boys, and I do that to the best of my ability.
“I do that but I also see how God works in me and shows me if I trust and just walk out and put my hand to the plough and start the work it will come to you,” he said.
As some of the boys are set to leave the children’s home, Theunis has dedicated himself to constantly checking in and training others who may be interested.
He has also suggested to the home’s management that they hold an open day for the public so people can see the amazing work done by the boys.
An asymmetrical mirror was hung and many people, including celebrities and radio personalities, signed the wall with messages of hope.
Theunis has already identified three other areas – Athlone, Strandfontein and Parkwood – where he wants barbershops to be built as a way to help the community.
“I feel the barber can be used to attract not only people but as a means of sustaining, for example, the soup kitchen by perhaps just using the money coming in for electricity,” he added.
IOL