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Shear Genius

Updated: Jan 29

By Zane Carroll


Imagine being reassured by your barber that it's fine to be a little late, only to show up and be told you have missed your appointment and still need to pay full price for the haircut.


Senior, Hudson King, recounts a terrible experience he had when showing up late for his haircut last summer. “They told me I was too late and that the barber had left,” King said. “Having lost the haircut money, my girlfriend, Taylor, offered to try and she did a better job than that barber would have!”


Taylor Daniels, a flute performance major, has been growing with confidence since last summer with her haircutting skills. “Hudson was willing to be my guinea pig, and I thought I could do a decent job,” she said. Daniels always thought cutting hair seemed new and fun, saying, “I try to dip my toes in every art thing that I am interested in.”


Daniels says she has improved her haircutting technique and has begun cutting other people’s hair on campus for a small fee since the summer, from $25 to $35 negotiable price. She said, “I started doing my friends and Hudson’s friends. I told them, anyone that compliments your haircut, you must tell them that I did it!”


Daniels then went on to cutting the hair of strangers, saying, “I got Instagram messages from Purchase students about organizing haircuts and I just went from there.”


Symphony orchestra student, Eni Karahoda shares a class with Daniels and heard that she was getting jobs cutting hair. He said, “She doesn’t charge that much. So, I was like, just chop it all off!”


In comparison to some other haircut places Karahoda has been to, he believes Daniels is very caring. “I’ve had haircuts in the past that were expensive, and they cut my hair really short. I didn’t really like it because they didn’t do anything special,” Karahoda said.


Karahoda getting a haircut in his college bathroom apartment from Daniels. (Photo by Zane Carroll)


Daniels taught herself to cut hair by observing professional hairdressers in the mirror as they would cut her hair. She gained confidence with more experience and practice. She says, “I eventually developed an understanding of how cutting hair worked. If it's a haircut I've never done before, I'll watch a video of a professional barber doing that cut. Then from there, I can usually figure it out myself.”


King has recognized a definite improvement with Daniels’ hairdressing skills. “She seemed a lot more unsure of herself the first time,” he said. “I noticed with each haircut she becomes more flexible and relaxed, and she’s gotten much more accurate at achieving the styles people like.”


Daniels trimming a client’s hair. (Photo by Eni Karahoda)


“I’m nervous all the time about someone’s reaction to their haircut but I keep it inside,” says Daniels. The more haircuts she does, the more confident and comfortable she feels in her abilities. “The first time I ever did a clipper cut, I was anxious to do a fade and then it came out really well. They said it was their favorite haircut they had ever gotten.”


“Haircutting is such a mystery to me,” says King. “The level of focus and detail it requires is incredible.” Daniels’ hair stylist work by hand and layer shape is greatly admired by King. He says, “She has absolutely become my go-to hairstylist. I’ve recommended all my friends to her, and two-thirds of us now all get our hair cut from her!”


“Taylor’s personality is really outgoing in a fun way,” says Karahoda. “She’s a little quirky and a little goofy but in a great way. She’s super smart in creative stuff, like haircutting. You name it, she does it.”


Daniels recalls a wholesome moment she had when cutting a stranger’s hair one time, explaining they had shared with her they started taking testosterone within the past year or two and never knew what to do with their hair.


“When I did their hair cut for them, they looked in the mirror afterward. They told me wow, and that they’ve never had a haircut that showed off their face before,” Daniels said. “Now they could see the shape of their face and how different it is now. That was meaningful to me, to know that I can make somebody feel comfortable in their identity with just a pair of scissors.”


Zane Carroll, who lives in Perth, Australia, studied journalism at Purchase during the fall semester. 


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