Haircut and Empowerment, Fifteen Dollars
Louisiana, 2006
Doug Haywood is the crab in the gumbo. And Mercy Corps is helping stir the pot.
"In a New Orleans seafood gumbo, you got to have some things: shrimp and okra," he explains. "But it's not really gumbo until you have the crab. And that's me. New Orleans just ain't New Orleans without certain people and places."
The four customers waiting to get their hair cut in Haywood's makeshift shop, situated in the dining room of his recently-repaired house in New Orleans East, nod in agreement. They know - he's been cutting their hair since they were kids.
Headhunters Hair Fashion - the name of Haywood's shop - was an iconic fixture in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward for more than four decades. In the barber chair of that shop, Haywood cut the hair of generations of New Orleanians and some notable out-of-towners including Muhammad Ali and Jesse Jackson.
On August 29, 2005, though, Hurricane Katrina weakened the city's levees and sent an epic flood into neighborhoods like the Lower Ninth Ward. Thousands of homes and businesses, including Haywood's barbershop, were slogged with toxic water. For those able to evacuate, there was no time to save anything but themselves.
Like thousands of other hurricane refugees, Haywood left his hometown and Louisiana with sadness and uncertainty. He made his way to Woodstock, Georgia - a suburb of Atlanta - where he stayed with his daughter and son-in-law for four months. Not a day passed that he didn't think about New Orleans.
And then, as he was standing in line at a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) office one day, Doug Haywood realized that his hometown needed him back right away.
"Going back to nurse her back to health"
As he waited to get information about how FEMA could help his family return to their home, Haywood fell into conversation with a fellow New Orleanian.
"She asked me ‘why do you want to go back to that toxic dump'," he says. "Well, I almost lost my religion right then and there.
"I asked her if she'd stand by her husband if he had a stroke. She said yes, of course she would," he continues. "So then I told her that my city had a stroke on August 29. I told her I was going back to nurse her back to health."
So, after spending Christmas with his family in Woodstock, Haywood drove back down to New Orleans on December 26. When he arrived, he was shocked by the utter devastation - which included his barbershop and home - but was even more dismayed by what he saw and felt in the hearts of his neighbors.
"When I saw the hurt on people's faces, I knew my decision to come back was right," he recalls. "You see, a barbershop in New Orleans is a place of community - for fellowship. It's a place where we meet and talk, a place where we encourage each other."
But, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, there was no barbershop left. Without a workplace and the tools he needed to ply his trade, Haywood wondered how he'd be able to rally his community together again.
And then a good neighbor told him about Mercy Corps.
"We all have to be Nehemiah"
"I found out about Mercy Corps through word of mouth, the best advertisement in the world," Haywood enthuses.
Soon after, he contacted Mercy Corps and found out about its Small Business Grants program. The organization gave Haywood a $2,500 grant to repurchase equipment including razors, trimmers, tonics and a barber chair. He set everything up in the dining room of his house in New Orleans East and, earlier this year, reopened Headhunters Hair Fashion.
Even though his makeshift shop was miles away from the Lower Ninth Ward, where it had been for 47 years, customers somehow found him and started coming back. The sense of community that's always surrounded the shop was reborn.
"Mr. Doug's shop has always been a pillar of the community. No matter where he goes, people are going to find him," says Arton Floyd, a local carpenter whose hair Haywood has barbered since he was a young boy. "Mr. Doug is an inspiration for so many people around here. You come here, talk, get your haircut and get your blessing at the same time."
"You see, we all have to be Nehemiah," Haywood proclaims. "In the Bible, Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem to find it ruined and desolate. He felt the people's pain, and was filled with sadness in his heart. So he began his plans to not only restore his city, but also comfort its people.
"We all are Nehemiahs," Haywood says, gesturing around the room. "We have to come together to support and encourage each other."
A circle of empowerment
Haywood's shop isn't only a rallying point for a community in need - it's also a place where young men learn valuable life lessons.
"A barbershop in New Orleans is a place where older black men can encourage our youth to do good," Haywood explains. "Just 45 minutes ago, everyone here was talking to a young man, encouraging him to go to college.
"This is a circle of empowerment, an ambiance of positivity," Haywood continues. "What we say here rubs off on young men and sticks with them. That kind of thing is essential to getting our city back."
Everyone sitting around the room nods, and I hear a couple of amens. Doug Haywood goes back to cutting the hair of the young man in the barber chair, a police officer that has been coming here for as long as he can remember.
I ask Arton Floyd how much a haircut is here. I admit to him that I'd almost forgotten that I was sitting in a barbershop - it feels more like a church or a social hall.
"It's $15 for a haircut here, but I know what you mean," he laughs. "It's worth the price of admission to be in this atmosphere, to be in Mr. Doug's company, isn't it? You get a lot more than you pay for.
"Mr. Doug is a role model to all of us, then a barber - in that order. He's naturally New Orleans."
(Cover photo by Roger Burks. This story originally appeared on the Mercy Corps website: https://www.mercycorps.org/articles/united-states/haircut-and-empowerment-fifteen-dollars.)
