By Owen DiDonna
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
“Come on inside!”
Steven Rowell waves a curious passerby into his neighborhood barber shop, Hairway to Steven. He puts down his scissors and shakes the newcomer’s hand.
“Are you looking for a haircut?”
Rowell, 48, is the head barber of the establishment he opened in 2010 that over the years has become a familiar presence in the Towson community. While he caters to the locals, he also draws customers from as far away as the Baltimore City area.
“We serve mostly people from the neighborhood,” Rowell says. “The neighborhood people are the bread and butter of the shop.”
His website says it all: “The neighborhood barbershop in the heart of Towson, Maryland and a short trip from the Baltimore City line. I aim to give everyone the haircut they have in their mind’s eye — whether it’s a classic clipper cut, a shaggy shear or razor cut, a tight urban style, or ‘just a regular’.”
Before opening Hairway to Steven, Rowell says, “I was a stay-at-home dad.”
“When I put my son on the school bus for him to go to his first day of first grade, I started barber school the same day,” he says, explaining he began work on his certification in August 2009.
Rowell says he decided to become a barber right before New Years in 2008. Being a blues rock guitarist, Rowell says he thought that being a barber would be complementary to his musical work. He was licensed as a master barber after graduating from Avara’s Academy of Hair Design.
“When I was 20 years old, I thought that I would be good at [cutting hair], but I never pursued it,” Rowell says. “It seemed like a good job to have while I was pursuing my musical interests, because it enabled me to make a good salary and to have time to play music.”
The shop’s first location was in uptown Towson, on York Road. Arguably Towson’s busiest road, Hairway to Steven’s block saw no shortage of traffic jams, compounded by the tall, looming buildings that surround it. In 2015, Rowell moved his shop around the corner to East Chesapeake Avenue, a more open, quieter, almost secretive side street that connects to York Road.
Rowell says he opened Hairway to Steven soon after completing his barber certification in August 2010, the shop’s title being a suggestion of a friend. Rowell did not work in other barber shops, instead opting to open his own right away. He operated the shop by himself for two years. While he enjoyed a healthy stream of customers, the shop could attract up to 25 customers a day, and it became hard for Rowell to cover all of his customers.
As a result, barber Charlie Helmslinger joined him in September 2012.
“I liked that it was an old school shop that did shaves and had the old chairs,” said Helmslinger, eyeing the faded vintage frame of his barber’s seat. “I thought it was a nice neighborhood. Steve seemed pretty cool, too.”
Today, searching for a haircutter can result in tons of nearby locations filled with televisions, plastic furniture, and more than enough hairdressers. They can be good for someone looking for a cheap trim, but customers often leave with questionable cuts.
Despite this new trend in haircutters, Hairway to Steven keeps cutting hair classic. In the shop, there are three antique barber’s chairs all in a row, refurbished with new red upholstery. You can find Rowell’s scissors and combs in a classic disinfectant tank, next to his collection of electric razors. On the opposite wall, Rowell keeps a sofa so that waiting customers can hang out in the shop. Here, they might engage in discussions, read a book, or listen to the radio.
Rowell’s prices are accepted without complaint: A haircut $19, shave $25, shave and haircut $40, shape up $12, beard $10 and kids 12 and under $14.
The haircuts are essential, but the culture in the shop is what sells the experience. While in the barber’s seat or waiting on the couch, customers talk about anything and everything; politics, art, and religion are all fair game. Music from all decades plays on Rowell’s radio, and the daily news is guaranteed to be a part of the discussion.
Rowell’s “style” is loud and unmistakably “Baltimore,” capturing the city’s charming, quirky disposition. As he cuts hair, his tattoos are not only visible but entertaining too. His arms are covered with an array of subjects such as dice, aliens, and the classic “mom” heart. His salt-and-pepper hair is spiked up as if a cartoon dynamite stick exploded in his face, and his mustache is twisted to a sharp point. He often completes his look with jeans and a pair of Vans sneakers.
Rowell’s personality is visible throughout his shop.
“I think some of my quirkiness comes through, with some of the junk on the walls,” Rowell said, looking around the establishment.
To Hairway to Steven’s customers, the shop is more than just a place to get a haircut.
“I’ve been on the couch before watching two guys who don’t know each other get haircuts at the same time, and they become almost interconnected,” said Benjamin Norfolk, a regular customer. “There’s a lot of people who will come in and sit in the chairs or on the couch, and they end up getting to know each other.”
When customers go to Hairway to Steven, they expect a haircut. However, they leave with an experience packed with culture, diversity, and some familiar neighborhood amiability.