NEVEN ZORI THE BENEVOLENT BARBER
At MKE ShEArS, a trendy hair salon located on Milwaukee’s Lower East Side, co-owner Neven Zorić offers a service you may never see and you won’t find at your average barbershop: quiet, “sensory-friendly” haircuts for children who are on the autism spectrum.
On the first Monday of every month, when the salon is closed to the public, Zorić cuts hair for people who have sensitivities to noise, commotion and other customers. He keeps the salon as quiet as possible, avoids the use of noisy tools like blow-dryers and clippers, turns off the background music and works with only one child at a time, slowly, to avoid overstimulation.
Haircuts can be stressful for people challenged by certain sensory experiences. What Zorić provides helps lessen the anxiety for children and their families. “Doing something like that, it makes me happy,” he says. “I want to give back to the community. I just wanted to do something good.”
Zorić, a stylishly dressed, 31-year-old native of Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina, graduated from Milwaukee’s Aveda Institute of Beauty & Wellness in 2011; he opened MKE Shears with fellow Aveda grad Nilo Brajs three years later.
According to Zorić, the idea for the sensory haircuts came from a client who worked for Autism Speaks, an organization that MKE Shears has sponsored for over two years. With friends on the autism spectrum, Zorić leapt at the chance to offer families an uncommon resource.
The process is “never the same, from child to child,” he says, adding that the same client’s needs may change dramatically between visits. “One child may hate clippers, while another may not. Any child may hate clippers one visit and be okay with clippers the next.”
Sometimes, children sit for the haircut in the chair themselves. “Sometimes, they have Mom or Dad holding them,” says Zorić. “I try to make them as comfortable as I can. There really is no defined way to handle children on the spectrum where cutting hair is involved. It’s really a labor of patience and understanding.”