The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Scissors tame unruly youths
Snellville barber gives ‘old man’ haircuts to kids who misbehave.
Kids, if you’re acting up, you probably don’t want Snellville barber Russell Fredrick to know.
Fredrick, co-owner of A1 Kutz offers free, “Benjamin Button Specials” or so-called “old man” cuts for misbehaving youngsters.
In hair speak that means shaving a lot off the top so you look more like a balding Mr. Magoo than a younger, cooler Bruno Mars.
It’s clearly not the look you want when hanging out with friends or going to school.
“We’re all for creative discipline,” said the 34-year-old father of three sons, ages 10, 12 and 13. “You can’t whoop these kids anymore.”
It all began when Fredrick, known as Rusty Fred, posted photographs to his Instagram account of a young customer unhappily sporting one of his special “old man” cuts. Things took off from there. The story was picked up by MediaTakeOut.com and The Washington Post and since then, Fredrick’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing.
Some critics call it unnecessarily humiliating and abusive.
Most praise him for his novel approach.
He’s just finished a Skype interview with a reporter from the Ukraine. Media requests have poured in from the United Kingdom and Australia.
And, yes, he is getting calls from parents who want to bring their unruly youngsters in for the special.
“It’s cool, but I didn’t do none of this for attention,” said Fredrick. “I’m just tired. I haven’t been able to work. I haven’t been able to make money.”
A while ago, a mother brought her young son in for a haircut. She mentioned how he was acting too grown and asked for help. They figured if he was acting grown, he should look the part.
After all, when Fredrick’s 12-year-old son’s grade were falling, he used the same approach. He’d tried other forms of punishment like taking away video games and his cellphone and not allowing him to play outside. Nothing seemed to work.
So Fredrick ended up shaving his head bald and substituting his hip sneakers for discount store brands. He told his son he would have to earn back his shoes and his hair.
Then he showed him a picture of an old man and said that would be his next look if he didn’t straighten up.
It worked. His grades picked up and his hair grew back.
As for his customer, he said the single mother and her son didn’t want to be interviewed. Some people have made her out to be a bad parent, which she isn’t, said Fredrick. “She was just seeking help.”
For her trouble, Fredrick has offered her a lifetime of free haircuts.
And there’s a flip side. His shop also offers free haircuts for students who are doing well in school.
He’s learned though that punishment is a hotbutton issue in parenting.
Not long ago, Minnesota Viking Adrian Peterson found himself under fire — and charged with child abuse — after allegations that he hit is 4-year-old son with a switch, a thin tree branch.
The issue was hotly debated in social and traditional media and among parents.
Baba Dawud Anyabwile, an illustrator and creator of “Brotherman” comics, disagrees with the idea of giving old man cuts to children who misbehave.
“That’s not me,” said the father of two sons, now 24 and 18.
“If they did something wrong, I was able to talk to them. I disciplined my children but never humiliated them, especially publicly.”
He especially doesn’t agree with using social media, “which is going to be out there forever. That can be more damaging. It just never goes away.”
Christian Buckmire, a 21-year-old college student, doesn’t have children but if he did he wouldn’t be opposed to taking a little extra off the top.
“I’d do it,” he said emphatically.
“If talking to him or punishing him didn’t work then maybe this would. It’s embarrassing to go to school half baldheaded and looking like an old man.”