Ian Price, resident director for the West Colony Apartments, gives free haircuts to his residents every Thursday evening from 7 to 9 p.m. He said it gives him an opportunity to get to know his residents. Spencer Findlay | Banner
A lamp with a sign taped to its shade that reads “free hair cuts” and a tattered barber’s chair are not unusual to see Thursday nights outside the Colony Box.
Ian Price, resident director of the West Colony Apartments at California Baptist University, understood his residents were on a budget and began giving haircuts in University Place, the living area where he first began working as a resident director.
Price said he and Jay Stovall came up with the idea to give free haircuts about five years ago, when Stovall was Price’s graduate assistant. This allowed them to get to know residents while serving them.
“We really just tried to figure out how we could best serve our residents at the time,” Price said.
In between making sure everyone in his living area is well and coaching this year’s championship women’s intramural flag football team, the Bus Drivers, Price still cuts his residents’ hair every Thursday night from 7 to 9 p.m. outside the Colony’s resident adviser office.
Price not only gives haircuts, but also teaches residents a few tricks he has learned along
the way.
“I mean I’m not a barber by any means, but I can share whatever little information I can with them,” Price said.
Josh DeVore, junior business administration major, helps Price cut hair.
“Ian providing haircuts for residents has little to do with hair at all,” DeVore said. “Cutting hair is merely a platform he uses to invest in people’s lives.”
Even though it began as a service for his residents, Price said cutting hair has grown into a hobby he enjoys.
“It’s kind of like a fun hobby,” Price said. “I don’t know if I’d want to do it as a profession, but it’s definitely a fun thing to do.”
Price uses his hobby to build community while doing something to benefit his residents.
“The idea was to give free haircuts to our guys as a means to save them money,” Price said. “It was a way for us to get to know our residents, so as a dude was in my chair I could literally ask whatever I wanted, and if he didn’t like the question, he could either get up and leave with a jacked-up haircut, or he could sit there and answer the
question.”
