For ten years, Kofi Mensah worked six days a week at a busy hair salon in downtown Vancouver. He was good at his job — really good. His clients loved him. But he was tired of giving most of his earnings to the salon owner.
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“I would cut hair for twelve hours and take home less than half of what clients paid,” Kofi says. “I dreamed of having my own chair, my own space.”
But rent in Vancouver is brutal. A small salon suite in a good location costs thousands of dollars a month. Kofi did not have savings. He had a young daughter and a mortgage.
So he started small. He bought a portable barber kit — clippers, scissors, combs, a foldable mirror — and began cutting hair on weekends in his tiny apartment living room. He told only a few trusted clients. They told their friends. Soon, Kofi was fully booked every Saturday and Sunday.
“My wife would take our daughter to the park for four hours, and I would turn our living room into a barbershop,” he recalls. “We moved the coffee table, put down a sheet, and played loud music. It felt illegal, but it was just a side hustle.”
Word spread on Instagram. Kofi posted before-and-after photos of his fades, beard trims, and lineups. His style was clean but creative — he loved adding small designs shaved into the hair. Younger clients, especially, appreciated the attention to detail.
