By Jessica Jones
Angelica Littleton is the new barber on the block as she opens her new barbershop, Artistic Designs, in Bluff Park. A newcomer to the area, she’s no novice when it comes to cutting hair. Littleton has been cutting hair for 16 years and has been a professional barber since she graduated from Lawson State in 2006. Her interest in barbering began when she first picked up a pair of clippers to help line up her boyfriend she had at the time, or so she thought.
She later found out that she came from a family of hair stylists. “Before my grandmother passed this year she told me her father was a barber and he had his own barbershop,” Littleton said. Her great grandfather owned Jones Barber and Beauty Salon in Avondale. Littleton’s great grandmother was also a stylist. Her great grandfather’s uncle and his nephews were barbers as well.
Throughout her high school years, cutting hair was a good source of pocket change, but Littleton hasn’t always wanted to be a barber.
“I would cut hair on the porch or as a side thing, but I never expected that to be my career. Never,” she said. Unsure of what she wanted to do after high school, Littleton didn’t attend school for barbering until 2004. “Didn’t know God had this thing set up for me to be a barber.”
After working at other shops, she’s now the owner of Artistic Designs Lounge in Bluff Park, a diverse location perfect for Littleton who cuts all types of hair. But she didn’t do it alone. Lawrence Carpenter, owner of U R Next barbershop and a high school friend, had been after her for years to own her own shop, but she never felt she was ready.
“He wanted me to run his shop in West End,” she said. “He heard the buzz about me and I didn’t know it. Everybody was talking about that female barber…and I didn’t know that. He said ‘Angel, I need you to come run my shop,’ and I said, ‘I can’t do that. The Lord hadn’t led me [there].’”
Concerned about the loyalty of her clients who lived in the Homewood and Hoover area, she didn’t want her clients to have to relocate. For five years he asked her to help him run his shop and for five years she declined.
“What the Lord said to me is I had a fear of succeeding and tried to call it a fear of failure,” Littleton said.
She quit her job at the shop she worked in at the time and went in search for a building for her new business. After searching with no success, she called Lawrence who told her at that moment, he was at the building that was to be her new shop and had been waiting for her to call him. Finally, she said yes and moved into her shop a little over six weeks ago. It’s a leap Littleton said she’s glad she made.
“The peace that God has given me owning my own shop, it has been wonderful,” she said.
Along with her career choice came the stereotypes that barbers, both male and female, face about the legitimacy of a craft that is often seen as a hustle. There is a belief that barbers don’t go to school or don’t have a real career, she explained.
“That’s a lie,” she said. “When I attended Lawson in 2004, I had to take psychology. I had to take math. I had to take the Science of Barbering, the History of Barbering. I didn’t just cut hair.” She completed two years of school before she earned her license. “You go to school for this. This is not a hustle.” “I’m able to educate my clients on the hair part and the science part and also the history part of [barbering] because I went to school for it.”
As if being stereotyped as uneducated isn’t enough, there is also the issue of gender. In a male dominated field, Littleton has often had to prove herself as being just as good as male barbers. She’s had plenty of encounters with men who were reluctant to allow a woman to cut their hair, but one moment in particular stands out in her mind as the most memorable. Known as “the female barber who cuts fast but precise,” she’d just finished cutting four clients when a new client walked through the door. When she signaled for the next client to come over, he refused.
“He said ‘uh,uh I’m not going to let you cut my hair,’” she said. She attributed his refusal to her attire that she describes as being feminine. “Most female barbers are hard and that’s what they (male clients) are looking for if they can cut hair.”
It wasn’t until after another client walked in and sat in her chair to get his hair cut that he allowed her to cut his hair once he saw the other barbers weren’t as fast as Littleton. She earned a new faithful client that day,
Despite the stereotypes and misconceptions of being a barber, owning her own shop also comes with rewards, she said.
“Being the shop owner, I’m able to set my own atmosphere,” she said. “If I’m peaceful, then the atmosphere will be peaceful. There’s a stability in the atmosphere so that’s one of the biggest things [I enjoy].”
That stable atmosphere is one of the things that keeps client Cliff Long coming back.
“I like the atmosphere,” Long said. “It’s a family friendly atmosphere. I can bring my daughter here and I don’t have to worry about barbershop talk and barbershop talk literally runs the gamut.”
“I like the professionalism,” he said. “I like the fact that if I call she can let me know if she can fit me in her schedule. I have a very busy work schedule. I don’t have a lot of time, so for me, when I do need a haircut, it’s on a schedule and I need someone who’s professional. Barbers are notorious for having you sitting in the shop all day long and I never have experienced that with Angel.”
Artistic Designs Lounge is located at 2400 Mountain Drive Suite 104, 35226.
