The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
SHEAR PLEASURE
Entrepreneur cuts hair of NFL stars but his most cherished customers are the young men he mentors
MIDDLETOWN >> Ernesto Vargas Jr. is obsessed with hair.
“I was always fascinated by it when I was a kid. I would see somebody with a haircut and say, ‘I want to fix that guy’s hair,” said the young owner of Finesse Cuts Barbershop in the city’s North End.
In fact, he was his first customer.
“I used to practice on myself, the 25-year-old Cromwell resident said. “I feel like I used to mess myself up a lot,” he said with a laugh.
Vargas, who has been in business at the shop’s 578 Main St. location — found between the Tibetan Kitchen restaurant and Shlien’s Furniture Co. — for nearly two years, held his grand opening in December.
And business is booming. So much so that Vargas, who has a full-time stylist on staff, is about to hire another.
In high school, Vargas participated in the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce’s Middletown Summer Youth Employment and also took part in a workforce development partnership with the Community Renewal Team in the city. A scholarship allowed him to complete barber school.
The 2009 Cromwell High School graduate got his start
in the field at 17 while a junior, working at Mike’s Barber Shop’s former location at 505 Main St.
The young entrepreneur marvels at how far he’s come in less than two years.
“At first I was cutting my cousin’s hair, then my other cousin, my uncle, a friend, then all my high school friends and it just blew up from there,” Vargas said.
Haircut by haircut, word of Vargas’ talent with the clippers got around.
Then a high school friend introduced him to David Reed, a New Britain native.
Yes, that David Reed — the Baltimore Ravens’ NFL wide receiver.
“Someone said, ‘Hey you’ve got to hook him up with a good haircut,’” Vargas said. “After that, they told me, ‘that kid is going to the draft next month for the NFL.
“He’s coming to me every week now for a haircut because he loved it so much.”
In fact, Vargas’ talent earned him another client — Reed’s brother, Jordan Reed, the Washington Redskins tight end.
“He’s one of the best players in the league and he introduced me to other players,” and every so often, the Reed brothers fly him down so Vargas can work his magic.
“Now I’m cutting people who are famous athletes,” he said.
“It’s awesome. I never knew it would take me this far. In my dreams, I never knew,” Vargas said.
But his most cherished clients are the youth from whom he’s not so far removed in age.
One summer, he hired a student in Vinal Technical School’s barber program. “It was great working with him, letting him learn,” Vargas said. “Now he’s in college on a scholarship for basketball and he’s making a little bit of money on the side cutting hair for some college students.”
Young people and their successes are what inspire Vargas, he said.
“When a kid comes up to me telling me his problems, I try to give him the help that he needs to the best of my knowledge. I see him passing it on to somebody else.”
“I love seeing the progression in people, the growth in people. It’s one of the most beautiful things,” said Vargas, who also coaches Cromwell’s CYO league.
Now, all his giving back is starting to pay dividends.
Last year, Vargas was invited to a pep rally at Cromwell High.
“When I started walking into the auditorium, I got to the middle logo of the gym and the whole school is chanting my name. That feeling still runs like it was yesterday. It was awesome,” he said.
Vargas’ talent was achieved through years of hard work but to some of his young clients, his skills are otherworldly.
“The kids call me HOG — the hands of God,” said Vargas, who attributes the moniker to his ability to give multicultural styles.
Recently, the Wesleyan University basketball team sought him out to raise money for breast cancer, a project they’ll soon work on together.
“I love those guys up there, the energy that they give me,” Vargas said. “I love talking to those kids.”
Vargas also will sponsor the men’s basketball league named for Chauncy Hardy, the Xavier High School graduate who was killed in October 2011 in an attack in a bar in Romania. He was 23.
Paying it forward to community members and his clients is what fuels Vargas’ passion to succeed, he said.
“I see the smile when I turn the chair around, in the mirror, and me seeing (a customer) getting married and he has this great haircut on — it’s like, ‘I did that.’ I’ll get invited to an event and when I go in, everybody has my haircut,” he said.