Story and photos by Sammy Wynn
HAZARD, KY – Sunlight shines through the windows of Queen City Barber Shop, as a melodic harmony echoes around the room.
Within the shop’s four walls, a sole chair sits before a mirror, as a small boy eagerly awaits his 2 p.m. appointment.
Behind him stands barber shop owner Jade Teague, grinning wide as he asks the boy what movie he wants to watch on the shop’s small TV screen.
“It’s not about the haircut, it’s about the experience that keeps ‘em coming back,” Aiden Vermillion, one of Teague’s clients, said.
Teague, who opened the shop in 2024, said he began his career back in high school, giving his friends a “front porch special.”
Under the sun’s heavy beams, Teague said, he sat and tried to cut his friends’ hair on the front porch of his childhood home.
However, this usually left them with a mess and a buzz cut.
“I always had an interest in being a barber,” Teague said. “It gave me an opportunity to still work with people and be around people …and maybe be able to help influence, or whatever you want to call it, them in a positive way.”
Teague said he strives to learn about the client who sits in his chair, whether it’s his best friend or someone’s first appointment.
For the 40 to 45 minutes his clients are in the chair, Teague said, he hopes they can escape the real world, forget their crazy lives and truly connect with him.
As the little boy leaps out of the chair, Teague sends him off with the same message he leaves
every client with.
“Back to the real world you go, brother,” Teague said.
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