Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonathan Kalonji.
Hi Jonathan, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born in Belgium (Europe), moved to Congo (Africa) when I was 8, and back to Belgium until 18. I then relocated to California until now. It was fun, challenging, and exciting when I started cutting my hair. It wasn’t a job, it was a hobby and a passion. Just something I enjoyed doing and was dedicating my time and energy to.
I never thought I’d ever be a barber… I was just doing that until I figured out my “real job”. I went to school for something different and had many other jobs (while still cutting hair), but at the time I had never had as much fun doing anything else than cutting hair. Cutting hair was the only thing I had ever done for more than 12 hours straight without eating and not feeling hungry or tired.
But at the same time, I always knew I also wanted more than just cutting hair. I’ve always had a fascination with business. I am now a barber, educator & entrepreneur. In recent years, I’ve been considered to be one of the industry leaders, giving classes and educating barbers all around the world. I teach hair-cutting techniques and the business side of barbering.
About 2years ago, I started a new business venture. I’ve designed and created a 3way mirror with LED lights on a stand. It’s designed to help people have a full 360 view of their head. Our customers cut their hair, touch up their edges in between barbershop visits, do their makeup, color their hair, braid their hair, etc… it’s the ultimate 3way mirror for DIY self-care experiences.
I had been cutting my hair since I was 13. And I’ve always taken way too long, struggling to cut with one hand while holding a mirror with the other. Not to mention the awkward and uncomfortable positions to try to catch certain angles in the mirror. I always thought something needed to be created to fix these issues but never thought other people were going through the same issues.
One day, I posted a video of me cutting my hair on IG and got a lot of feedback about people who were also doing it.
A lot of people were sharing their struggles with me. And the more I posted my #BestestSelfCut, the more messages I was getting. After a while, I decided to come up with a solution to this problem, and so I designed and manufactured the “Bestest Mirror”.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I’m gonna say that it has been a great journey, definitely bumpy at times, but also very rewarding and strengthening. I grew up pretty poor. My mom was supporting me, my two brothers and sister, my two cousins (whose parents had passed), a lady from church, and one of my uncles. All that with one job. So we never went to the barbershop! One of my uncles used to cut our hair when he felt like it lol.
When I was 13, I told my mom I thought I could cut my hair. So I did it. She thought it was a little short but good enough so she asked me to do my little brother’s hair. After that, it was the cousins, neighborhood friends, and school friends; the rest is history. A few years later when I was 17, I started working in the first and only barbershop in my town (Mons, Belgium).
Barbershops weren’t popular back then in Mons, there were only salons up to that point. Working in a barbershop was a great experience because I learned how to be more professional and deal with different types of clients. I was way underpaid; I only kept 40% of my haircuts which was $4 per haircut in my pocket. But, as an apprentice, it was all about the experience.
As soon as I felt I had gained enough knowledge and experience there, I was out. I moved to the capital, the city of Brussels which was a lot faster pace. I loved it; it prepared me for the “real shop life” and the “no mercy life” LOL. We used to call it the jungle. There were 8 barbershops very close to each other, literally on the same block, so all of the barbers would just stand outside and go out of their way to “fish” for clients.
It was pretty intimidating because I was the youngest dude in there (18), I was very shy and reserved and everyone was loud and looking me up and down like they “knew” I wasn’t gonna last in there. But I was determined to make it work. I enjoyed cutting hair too much to let other people run me away.
I took on the challenge and quickly noticed that in all of the 8 shops around me, no one was doing hair designs. They would just do “regular” haircuts. I decided to start doing designs and take pictures of them to advertise my work. That helped me build a reputation and make a name for myself in the area.
After a few months in Brussels, I decided to take my talents to the US. I knew the barbershop culture was way bigger there. More appreciation for the job, more money, more tips, people getting their haircut more frequently, more diversity in hair textures, different styles, just more room for growth in general.
Moving to Cali was a dream come true, I never thought I’d be able to make it in California. It wasn’t all glitters and glamour at first. The language barrier, the California cost of living without a clientele… I questioned myself more than once on why I even put myself in that situation: “Maybe barbering is not for me, maybe I should have just stayed in Belgium, etc…”
But I made up my mind not to give up and keep focusing on possibilities instead of being stuck on my struggles. And Lil by Lil, my English became better, I became better at my job, gained more confidence, more clients, more recognition, and soon enough it felt like I was living my dream life. Everything eventually fell into place!
I’ve grown so much here. Being able to work alongside some of the best in the industry and be recognized worldwide has humbled me, it gave me a huge confidence boost and a real sense of everything is possible. I eventually started realizing that shop life could be pretty exhausting. I had long days, and it became hard to service all the demands, it was hard on me and my family.
I wanted to create something that would be bigger than me and that would solve a problem. I kept trying out new ideas and doing different Lil test runs but nothing was sticking, it just felt like it was just for my profit and nothing more. Until I came up with the “Bestest Mirror” Idea. A high-quality, 3-way mirror on an adjustable stand, with dimmable LED lights.
When I explained the idea to people around me, there was an unusual enthusiasm around the idea. All I had was an idea and no clue how to go about it. Every step was challenging and felt like it was taking forever. I started by designing the product with a pen and a piece of paper, imagining the dimensions, materials, etc… Next, I looked for a manufacturer, which was a long process to find the right one.
For some reason, all the mirror manufacturers I found either didn’t understand what I wanted, didn’t work with the type of material I wanted, or were way too expensive. Then I worked with lawyers for patents and copyrights and officially created the company. After that, it was the testing phase to see if my design was doable the way I imagined it. We were working with engineers to see if the weight, height & material used were all going to work together (we built 5 different samples).
Same thing with the tripod we’ve had 3 different types of a tripod. That was complex because we needed to find something that is strong enough, and sturdy, but light enough and foldable into a small enough compact size to fit our packaging with elegance. Then, building the mold for mass production took a long time because there were several tweaks to make.
At that point, we could finally start production. Then it was the packaging, logos, user manual, and everything you see in the box. Meanwhile, I was working on finding a storage place, figuring out marketing, how to handle shipping, and all the logistics. It was a long process filled with a lot of tweaking, a lot of questioning, miscommunication, doubts, overthinking, etc…
It took almost 18 months for me to finally have the finished product in front of me. That took a lot of patience and faith to stay focused on the mission and keep going. All that being said, again, I appreciate everything the way it happened, and how it shaped me into being who I am today. I love my life LOL.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I wanted to be an architect or a therapist, I wasn’t supposed to become a barber lol. Also, my first language was French, I learned how to speak English after I turned 18.
Pricing:
- The Bestest Mirror costs $249.99
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bestestbarber.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bestestbarber
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/bestestbarber
Image Credits
@bestestmirrors
