Mahomes hoping to avoid hairy situation
MIAMI — It is 4 p.m. Friday, and DeJuan Bonds is getting Patrick Mahomes ready for Super Bowl LIV.
Mahomes has flown Bonds, owner of the Purple Label Luxury Barber Shop by Napps in Overland Park, Kan., to Miami, and Friday at 4 p.m. is the standard time for Bonds to cut his famous client’s hair every week.
“I knew it was something he wanted to do last year even,” Bonds told The Post. “He kind of made a promise like, ‘Hey man, you know I gotta bring you there, I gotta have my hair right.’ ”
A little more than 48 hours from the biggest game of his life, the biggest game Kansas City has seen in 50 years, Mahomes is cool as a cucumber inside Chiefs hotel headquarters.
“Same old Patrick,” is how Bonds described him.
For Mahomes, the Super Bowl can’t get here soon enough. Mahomes told Bonds: “I’m ready to get this game on.”
The challenge on Super Friday for Bonds was no easier than it will be for Mahomes against the 49ers.
“It’s a Mohawk, modified by me,” Bonds said.
Mahomes has been wearing Bonds’ Mahomie for the past three years.
“When he first came to me originally, it was in way worse shape,” Bonds said. “His hair is really difficult because of the cowlicks that he has. The hair type is different.”
It will take Bonds an extra 10 minutes to cut Mahomes’ hair.
“Because I have to cut it twice, maybe three times,” Bonds said. “I have to make sure I cut it two or three different ways to make sure however he combs, it lays right because of the hair type he has.
“I’ve cut a lot of biracial hair before, but this is one different head, man.”
Bonds is 45, a Kansas City native who used to be the in-house Chiefs barber from 19992009, when he changed the name of his Napps barbershop. It was Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce who referred Mahomes to Bonds. How much does Bonds charge Mahomes? “Do we have to say that?” Bonds asked. Bonds will be sitting in Section 123 inside Hard Rock Stadium watching Mahomes quarterback his hometown team.
“Still to this moment, I still don’t believe that we are actually there,” Bonds said. “I know I’ve seen Super Bowl LIV signs everywhere, Chiefs versus the Niners, but until I see my team run out on the field, I still feel like I’m dreaming, like this can’t be real. We’ve had great teams in the ’90s and 2000s, and we get so close and we always get let down and it’s always next year, it’s always something. Year after year I got crushed and got my feelings hurt. To actually see these boys run out on the field, it’s gonna be surreal.”
He is rooting for another hair-raising performance.