This Local Barber Is Teaching DC Teens at his New Shop

After years working as a barber in Adams Morgan, Akil Wilson opened his own old-school shop in the neighborhood last year, Wilson’s on 18th. But he doesn’t just want to cut hair there: He also plans to instruct local teens in the art of barbering. “I like teaching people how this business can be transformative,” he says, and that “this isn’t as hard as you think.”

Wilson grew up in DC, the son of renowned Capitol Hill radio reporter George Wilson. He learned the trade from congressional barber Nurney Mason, who gave Wilson his first box of clippers. He began giving haircuts with those clippers as a side hustle out of his college dorm–and soon discovered that “cutting hair is just a peripheral thing,” he says. “I get paid to talk to people all day.”

The idea to teach teens came after Kingsman Academy’s principal walked into the shop earlier this year and suggested partnering. Wilson jumped at the idea, because his long-term goal is to open a barber school. “Starting with these kids now is my first foray into doing this for real,” he says.

During the classes, Wilson teaches practical skills, but his main goal is to give students confidence in interacting with a range of people. On any given day that they’re in the shop, “there’s a lot of different people who come in,” he says. “It’s kind of like a microcosm of America.”

This article appears in the August 2024 issue of Washingtonian.

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