Dom Clucas: Barbershop success story

Dom Clucas (right) giving a signature cut at Black Hills Barbershop. (Photo courtesy Dom Clucas)

RAPID CITY— In a world of nothing but bald men, Dom Clucas might have chosen the wrong profession. Being the best barber, maybe in all of West River, wouldn’t count for much then. But most men, especially young men, have hair up top, often unruly hair, hair that requires special attention. More than that, a haircut makes a statement about who you are, what you do, where you are going, and not just to other people, but to yourself. The right haircut completes the look of the person dressed for success, and if identical twins sit down, wearing identical suits, with identical qualifications, and identical personalities, but they have different haircuts, go with the guy with the better haircut.
We all have a haircut history in our minds. We remember the chair, the smells, the conversation, the clipping of the scissors, the stroke of the comb. It is one of those connective cultural threads, a shared experience to which we can all relate. Not even the best barber who ever lived, saw his profession as a calling. He probably just sort of fell into it.
Little boys back in the middle of the last century, the first barber they ever heard of was Sal “the Barber” Maglie, and he wasn’t a real barber, but a pitcher for the New York Giants, known for darting a fastball in so close it gave the batter a close shave. Baseball, not barbering, was the passion Dom Clucas first felt.
“Right out of high school I wanted to go to college to play baseball. That was my thing,” Clucas said. “That just didn’t work out, so I just left and started working, and slowly fell into barbering. It wasn’t like something I ever wanted to do. My friends would be like, hey, clean my head up, do my ears up and my neck. I would do it and then it was actually grandpa Chuck (Charles Rencountre) that said, hey, why don’t you go to barber school, So, we were just hanging out in my apartment one day and he helped me apply for school online, fill out an application, and I was like, maybe I should be a barber. It worked out. I couldn’t see myself doing anything else, honestly.”
Even if he hadn’t been passionate about becoming a barber, once Clucas got to Emily Griffith Technical College in Denver, and actually started classes, a genuine passion soon flamed to life.
“School was like always super hard for me,” Clucas said. “But when I went to barber school, it was easy because I knew what I wanted to do. It was like I know where I am going and I gotta get this done because I am dedicated to what I am doing.”
What helped to keep that passion aflame was Clucas found out he had the knack, he was not only good, but exceptional, and all that dedication was only going to make him even better still. A young barber can’t afford an ego, it makes for terrible chairside manner. And how you relate to your clientele is fundamental to being a good barber. It’s not just the technical expertise of a comb and scissors. They need to like you, and trust you, and if they leave with those two thoughts in their minds, they will come back. Repeat business is they only thing that keeps a wolf from a barber’s door.
Now that he was licensed, Clucas needed a few things. He needed a studio, and a chair, and he needed some clients, and because he came of age in a new century, he knew how to get all three by taking advantage of the Age of Information.
People often fail to understand the fundamental difference between this century and the last. In this century, social interaction is immediate, not just on internet platforms, but with cellphones. People are networked in a way previous generations never could be. In the old days, a barber had to place ads in the paper or on the radio, rely on word of mouth, but today, not only does the internet offer free advertising, it creates social networks where haircuts are easily shared, relationships easily established.
Clucas soon had so many customers, he was booked up a month and half into the future: “I get a variation, it’s all over the place. It’s old, young, real young. I remember I was cuttin’ this little boy that was like two months old. His mom had him on the schedule. He was cool, though, I think it was because he was just real curious about the tools, he just let me do it. But kids are tough to cut.”
Most customers are 18-40 and each takes about thirty to forty-five minutes. Clucas: “Right now I am averaging about, like 12 to 15. For a standard haircut, it’s $25, but then, I have a signature haircut, so if you want a design, or something crazy, then I have the bigger one, the package— towel, shave, you get a haircut and a shampoo for forty, and that’s kind of the one a lot of guys go for because it’s a little more bang for your buck.”
A one man operation in a small shop can be draining, and Clucas says you have to stay mentally focused, standing on your feet all day.
“For me,” Clucas said, “it’s about answering a lot of the same questions. I mean, that sounds bad, but it’s like, hey, what is that barber pole for, what are those trophies for, it gets really repetitive. As far as questions go, I don’t mind it, but you gotta be ready for it. The best thing you can do is try to figure out ways to relate to them. If they are wearing a Broncos hoodie or something, maybe I’ll tease them about the Broncos. Because I’m a Patriots fan, you know.”
Once he got the one man operation down pat, Clucas felt the need to expand. He looked across downtown Fifth Street and saw a bigger building, and so he is transforming that building into a four chair barber shop that will have its grand opening on December 15.
This means the business has the potential to cut sixty heads a day Now all he has to do is find three more barbers at least as good as he is. But that is the challenge, in as much as becoming a top notch barber was his first challenge.
His operation may get bigger, more complicated, but his perspective will remain the same. Clucas: “People just want a haircut. You don’t care about what kind of clippers I have, you just want to look better than when you came in. If you can relate to the customer, be genuine, they don’t like its some kind of chop shop where they are just going in and out. They used to sit in someone else’s chairs, but they came to you, and you are gonna show them the best, show them what you got, to make sure that they stay (customers).”
Next month, little brother Carlos is headed for the same barber school Clucas went to. In nine months, he could take one of those other three chairs. Clucas has two little brothers still at home, eight and six. The day may come when all four Clucas brothers, four Native boys from North Rapid, are working those four chairs, each with their own signature style and clientele.
“That’s kind of the beauty of it,” Clucas said. “Creating your own style, creating your own clientele. That’s why I wouldn’t even want everyone to come to my shop even if that was possible, I don’t think it’s realistic to have every single person in Rapid City have their hair cut by me. I’m not for everybody. You have to create the type of clientele that you want”