Today we’d like to introduce you to Rey Arroyo.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
It really all started with a bad haircut. I was living in Compton back in 1995 and I wanted something different. At the time hair culture was changing and I started cutting my own hair trying to perfect one hairstyle. Friends in high school started noticing my haircut and started asking what barber shop I was going to and I told them it was me. That was all it took and I fell in love with the craft. I started cutting teammates and made my way to classmates I had the whole school buzzing.
Flash forward years of just cutting on the side and working a 9-5 until I finally decided to quit my job and at that time I was living in Long Beach and enrolled at John Wesley international barber college. I dove in full-time and lives off daily tips from school cuts.
I started in the very back of the class,!and by the time I was ready to graduate I was in the very front as a top student. I graduated in 2004 and began my apprenticeship at the first black-owned barbershop in Santa Ana. From there I passed the State Board exam and my career took off. I was young living in Orange County and going out making new clients and loyal ones I still cut to this day.
I moved to another barbershop in Orange with a great barber friend and helped grow his shop and this is when I started growing my beard and I have never stopped since then. I worked for yrs perfecting my beard skills and I was getting recognized everywhere I went. I was growing my beard clients at the barbershop for five years when COVID hit and we got shut down. I knew barbering was all I wanted to do and knew how to do. I took the time during the shutdown to enjoy my family a really think about how I wanted to move forward with my career. I knew that moving forward I wanted to do things differently and in order to do that I had to get my own studio. So I found Phoenix Salon Suites in Orange where I’m at currently.
Members Only Studio is my private space where I can create and practice my craft. I have loyal customers of years that have followed me to the studio and between all my family and years of experience, I feel like I’m in the perfect place. I created an escape for my customers to step into. The studio is an elevated man cave with all the amenities and some.
I love talking to my customers and making them look like a million bucks! They walk out looking and feeling great and that’s all the advertisement I really need.
I’ve had the opportunity to cut all different types of ethnicities meet all kinds of different people from all walks of life. I get new beard customers almost weekly, always eager to learn how to grow their beards like me.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Major obstacles that I look at as opportunities of growth for me personally. All of my struggles make me who I am now and have brought me to this perfect place in my life.
Years of never really having a stable place to live sometimes not having a car, but always making the most of it. Grew up in a Single mom household with no dad in the picture. I was pretty much raised on the streets in some of the craziest neighborhoods in LA.
Living off of $5 tips for haircuts at the barber college, making enough to catch the bus and get some dinner before having to come back to school.
Being the only Hispanic barber in an all-black barbershop was definitely a struggle. At first, everyone was scared to get cut by me. No one trusted that I could cut ethnic hair. After several months, I had to prove myself, and finally I gained their respect…
A huge struggle was Covid not being able to cut and being shut down, losing my only source of income and basically having to start from absolute scratch. Thank God for my family who had my back and my partner who has been with me since the beginning of my journey, she is my rock and #1 fan.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m more than your average barber I have years of experience in men’s grooming. I have experience with all hair types and proud to be the beard guy. I have a large population of customers who come to me to help them sculpt their beards and help them grow that perfectly groomed beards. At Phoenix Salon Suites and throughout my entire career, I am known for the guy that always focuses on the small details. It’s all about the experience, the escape once you sit in that barber chair for me.
I continue to attend expos and classes to perfect my skills and try to incorporate new tools in the shop. I love using the latest tools and always trying better products for my clients.
I’m proud of my client base and how many have stayed by my side throughout the years I am most proud of how far I’ve come in life and the success my craft has brought me and my family.
I specialize in everything beard and men’s grooming including straight, razor, beard sculpting, beard trimming, beard straightening, and one of my favorites, Beard enhancement. Using beard-safe dye perfectly outlines and enhance the perfect beard.
But honestly, I do it all I have customers who don’t have beards that I’ve been with me for years they love my cuts. I know what they like. I am more than a barber I’m a personal image consultant sometimes a counselor, life coach, friend, godfather, etc.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I’ve literally had to take so many risks in my life, and they’ve all paid off at the end.
I mean, I don’t know anybody else that would quit a full-time job to pursue the real passion and start barbering making at the most $10 a day if that. By choice, I struggled, but I knew that once I passed the state board, it was all going to be worth it.
After Covid when I honestly hit rock bottom and lost my only source of income I was in a situation where all I knew that I had to do was take a risk. Taking a risk and opening a studio on my own without the support of the barbershop was a huge leap of faith but of course, my customers found me some of them never left my side and it’s been the best decision I’ve ever made.
Risks have paid off in my life and both in my profession and my personal life. I feel like I’ve been blessed.
Contact Info:
- Website: membersonlybarberstudio.booksy.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/mobs_oc?igshid=YTY2NzY3YTc=
Image Credits
Photographer Jessica Fernandez
