Dual legacies
Bethlehem barber carries on three-generation heritage of cutting hair and serving the community
“When I first started off cutting hair, I didn’t realize the relationships I was going to build in barbering. ... It’s a great accomplishment to feel like almost an uncle, a brother, a nephew, a cousin, to most of the people that come in here.” — Larnelle Damon
The legacy continues.
Larnelle Damon opened Legacy Unisex Barbershop on Main Street Bethlehem in 2019, becoming the third generation in his family to become a barber.
It marked 50 years since his grandfather Bishop D.E. Hicklin opened his first barbershop in Irvington, New Jersey, which eventually expanded into five locations. Damon’s father Larryl Damon, Hicklin’s son-in-law, followed in his footsteps as well, working alongside Hicklin as a barber in their New Jersey shops.
Across the New Jersey border, Larnelle is now continuing that generational legacy — which is proudly on display on the walls of the shop.
A decades-old framed photo shows Larryl and Hicklin at the New Jersey barber shop. A mirror near the back of the shop is adorned with the words: “The legacy continues.”
The three men are a testament to the fact that barbers can be a cornerstone of their communities. Larryl Damon said that barbers often play a multitude of roles in their clients lives.
“What a lot of people don’t realize is the many hats a barber has to put on,” Larryl said. “At one point he’s a spiritual adviser, at another point he can be your doctor, your philosopher, you name it, the barber is that.”
Larnelle concurred. In just four years that Legacy has opened, he’s met clients that have become like family to him.
“When I first started off cutting hair, I didn’t realize the relationships I was going to build in barbering,” he said. “But as I got older I realized, building the bonds I have with my clients that I have over the years, it’s a great accomplishment to feel like almost an uncle, a
brother, a nephew, a cousin, to most of the people that come in here.”
Because of this connections, his business has taken off without much in the way of advertising.
He doesn’t even have business cards, Larnelle said — he’s grown his shop largely through word of mouth.
“I’m like, at this point, business just keeps coming, people keep calling about it, so I haven’t bought business cards,” he said with a laugh.
But running a successful business is about more than just building relationships with regular customers, Larnelle and his family said. It’s about giving back to the community — another part of the family legacy that Larnelle is carrying on.
When opening up his New Jersey shop at 6 a.m. most days, Hicklin recalled, he would provide coffee and doughnuts at no cost to the first customers. The free breakfast “wouldn’t last all day,” he said in jest.
The shop would also host free barbecues on Saturday, feeding anyone who needed a meal, and offered free haircuts to schoolchildren before the start of a new academic year.
Larnelle has carried on that tradition, offering free haircuts to homeless residents and running school backpack drives and gift drives during Christmas.
Giving back is instilled in him by his family, he said, and he does it without the expectation of recognition or reward — although he did recently receive a $2,500 community impact award from a local AT&T branch.
“I’m here a lot. I’ve seen a million-dollar man walk through this door, I’ve also seen a man that was homeless walk through the door. He’s been treated the same way,” said Jonas Salazar, a close friend of Larnelle’s.
Larnelle has ambitions to expand his charitable endeavors beyond what he’s doing now. He hopes to set up a nonprofit and establish a scholarship fund for local teens who aspire to become barbers or cosmetologists.
Hicklin said he is proud to see his grandson continue both legacies — cutting hair and serving the community — and hopes his great-grandkids, who are 2 and 5, one day take after their father.
“I say job well done,” Hicklin said. “Keep on doing what you’re doing, because you got your two little ones looking at you.”