As inflation increases the price of everyday necessities, Texas A&M students look for affordable grooming services through the practices of their fellow scholars.

In College Station, local barbers are raising prices for haircuts, while student barbers have decided to lower costs for customers. Most local barber shops have decided to raise prices by $10-20 to keep up with the current wave of inflation. Meanwhile, student barbers are lowering costs to make hair expenses more affordable for their peers. 

Forensic science and investigations senior Fernando Ontiveros is one of the student barbers in the area who cuts hair in his apartment.

“I have a lot of friends who were barbers, and they kind of motivated me to do it,” Ontiveros said.

Ontiveros said at the beginning of this semester, he started cutting hair because he enjoys it as a hobby, and decided it was best to make his prices affordable for the average student. 

“I am a student/barber so I know what it is like to pay $40 for a haircut, and it doesn’t allow you to get a haircut every two weeks,” Ontiveros said. “It is kind of expensive, especially with tuition.”

The reason most barbers have been charging more for haircuts is because the quality of the products and machines they buy are expensive, Ontiveros said. 

“People are used to seeing the low end to the machines and products, but the stuff we use [is] pretty high quality,” Ontiveros said. “For example, one of the machines is $150 and I have around four machines which is $600.”

The whole setup including products can add up to $1,000 to $1,500 which includes lights and a chair.

Level 1 barber Jacob Cervantes works at 4.0 Cuts barber shop in the Memorial Student Center on campus and became a professional barber last October. 

“I actually started cutting hair while I was in the Marine Corps just because we were waiting four hours in line just to get haircuts,” Cervantes said. “I just watched a lot of Youtube and taught myself how to cut hair.” 

Cervantes said when he moved to College Station, he could not find a good quality hair cut without paying 4.0 Cuts’ prices.

“The barbering game took off a lot faster than what the prices were reading, if anything we are still catching up to what our quality is,” Cervantes said. “People will pay high prices, that’s just the way inflation is. If they want or expect good quality they will pay those prices.”

4.0 Cuts staffs barbers with a system ranking them from level one to four with prices ranging from $27 for entry level and $50 for the best quality they offer.

Loyal 4.0 Cuts customer, business sophomore Cooper Flint at Blinn University, has been going to the same barber for most of his life in College Station.

“I don’t really feel any type of way about it because it is their profession, and they can charge how much they think they are worth,” Flint said. “At any point in time anyone can go somewhere else and get a cheaper haircut at another place.” 

Flint said his haircuts cost around $35 to $40 at 4.0 Cuts and before they increased their prices he used to pay around $25 to $30.