Allyssa Hagaman immediately recognized the man who walked into The CUT Barbershop in uptown Charlotte on Friday for a haircut.
Or so she thought, the 26-year-old stylist told The Charlotte Observer on Saturday.
He really looked like the man her father sees on TV, she said.
“I thought he looked like Mike Rowe, but I didn’t know,” she said of the Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs” host.
When he started talking, she was sure, Hagaman said. But still, was he? she wondered.
“You might as well tell me,” Hagaman told him.
“Yes, it’s me,” he replied.
And so the good-natured jesting Rowe detailed in a message to his 5.9 million Facebook followers — along with before-and-after selfies of his hair†
Hagaman added the word “sarcastic” to describe their jokes in a telephone interview with The Observer.
Rowe was her second ever customer at the store she only joined three weeks ago, after owner and founder Jill Matthews called her, she said. Hagaman also cuts her hair at Elements in Mooresville.
“I took her literally,” Matthews told The Observer.
Hagaman was never nervous about cutting Rowe’s hair, she said. Rowe is so humble and down-to-earth that “it was like talking to an old friend,” she said.
Rowe was in Charlotte filming his show when he realized he needed a part, he posted Friday afternoon. His hair is all over the “before” selfie he posted on Facebook.
Realized quickly, ‘she’s a smart aleck”
As Rowe shared on Facebook, the conversation started with Hagaman’s question, “Would you rather use scissors or a trimmer?”
“I don’t care,” Rowe replied. “What do you feel more comfortable with?”
“Allyssa shrugged,” Rowe continued. “‘I’m not sure. This is my first day and you’re only my second customer ever. I think I might want to try the scissors… when you’re ready.”
Rowe said he looked at her facial expression in the mirror and concluded, “She’s a smart jerk.”
“No problem,” Rowe replied. “But I have to tell you, I’m a hemophiliac. If you cut me, I can bleed to death.”
“Oh, good,” Rowe said, replying Hagaman. “I like a challenge.”
She found herself naturally going with the sarcastic flow of the conversation, as if they were old buddies, Hagaman told the Observer.
“He’s a very kind man,” she said.
She has three jobs
As Hagaman flipped, Rowe said on Facebook, inquired about the show, saying it was her dad’s favorite. He never misses an episode, she said.
“I complimented her on her father’s taste in TV shows,” Rowe wrote. “Then I asked her about her work and if she liked it.”
“‘Which?'” Rowe said she replied.
“How many do you have?” he asked.
“Three,” she said. “I have this one, but I also work at a salon in Mooresville called Elements. And I work as a hostess, sort of, at an Italian restaurant in Huntersville called Antico.”
“Kind of?” said Rowe.
“Well, technically I’m the hostess, but really, I do what I have to do,” she replied. “Usually I deal with clients that, you know, need to be addressed.”
“Interesting,” Rowe replied. “Do you use the scissors on it too?”
“I’m often tempted,” she replied.
Rowe called his post, “Allyssa has three jobs.”
And she loves all three, Hagaman told the Observer.
Traded nursing for her
Hagaman attended nursing school at Sentara College in her hometown of Chesapeake, Virginia, but five years ago she decided to move to the Charlotte area to work at Antico, her aunt and uncle’s Italian restaurant, she said.
And to decide what to do with the rest of her life, said Hagaman, who lives in Harrisburg.
She had worked at a Chesapeake hair salon by age 15, Hagaman said, remembering the joy she felt.
As a nurse, you take care of a patient for a day or two and never see them again, and it’s often sad because of their condition, she said. The customers you cut hair for? You can bond for the duration of your career, she said.
She received her cosmetology associate degree 2 1/2 years ago from Central Piedmont Community College and has never looked back.
Hagaman’s days are filled with varying shifts, but only because she loves all three and stays busy, she said.
In his post, Rowe said he told Hagaman that he plans to expand his scholarship program to include cosmetology next year.
Rowe said he also asked “why so many healthy people her age don’t work, when so many companies hire people.”
“You should ask them,” he said, she replied. “Personally, I like to work. So I do.”
‘Great cut, fair price’ and beer?
When Hagaman finished cutting his hair, Rowe wrote, “There was a pile of salt and peppery hair at my feet.”
“‘How’s that?'” he said, asked Hagaman.
“I thought about asking her to give back, but she was still armed with the scissors, so I said, ‘It’s just what I needed.'”
“Because it was,” Rowe said. “It was a great cut for a fair price ($35) in a barbershop that serves cold beer, made all the better by a bubbly conversation on a hot day with a 26-year-old woman who works three jobs.”
Social media praises hairdresser
By Sunday afternoon, Rowe’s haircut posts had more than 193,000 likes and 8,000 comments on Facebook, 28,000 likes on Instagram and 2,800 likes on Twitter†
“Anyone who can make you look even prettier can cut my hair anytime,” one woman posted on Facebook. ‘Go Allyssa! What a beautiful hairdresser too!”
“Allyssa did a fantastic job on your hair!!” another woman posted. “You look great! She’s so cute! A hardworking girl deserves the very best!”
