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Real Careers · Real Proof
Where a Barbering Career Actually Leads
The honest way to judge a career change is to look at where people end up after it. These are real New York barbershops — some founded, co-owned or staffed by people who once sat in a beginner's chair — proof that a license can turn into an actual career, and even a business of your own. Below are six of them, from a 30-year Harlem empire to a museum-barbershop on the Upper West Side.
Why This Page Exists
These Shops Are the Receipts
"Does it actually work out?" is the biggest question before any career change. These six shops are the answer.
From a 30-year Harlem empire to a museum-barbershop on the Upper West Side, graduates of American Barber Institute went on to work, become co-owners, or open their own doors. The path from a 500-hour program to a working career behind the chair is real.
6
real NYC shops profiled
30
years for the oldest partner brand
4
generations in one museum-shop lineage
01 · The Ownership Path
Levels Barbershop
Levels Barbershop was founded in 1996 on 125th Street in Harlem by Kamal Nuru. Today it spans Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Orange County, NY — alongside The Antique Barber product line, the Barber World TV media platform, and the annual NYC Barber Battle.
Several of the Nuru family co-owners earned their licenses at ABI about 15 years ago before helping build one of the most iconic names in NYC barbering. Many licensed barbers at Levels today are ABI alumni too — placed there by graduates who came before them.
A license can become a chair, a shop, or an empire.
02 · The Family Trade
Diamond Fadez
Diamond Fadez sits at 308 West 39th Street — a combined barbershop and tattoo studio customers call "the best barbershop in the city."
The shop is owned by Mike, whose younger brother, Richard Cancel, became a bilingual barbering instructor. Mike's success is part of why Richard came back to teach: same craft, two generations of one family who turned the trade into a living.
A trade steady enough to build a family around.
diamondfadezbarbershop.com →
308 W 39th Street, NYC · (646) 370-3474 · @Diamond_Fadez1
03 · From License to Owner in Two Years
Untouchable Cutz
Jimmy pushed hard from day one — asking questions, chasing every technique. Just two years after earning his license, he opened his own shop.
Roughly 15 years later, Untouchable Cutz is one of Staten Island's most respected barbershops, backed by a team carrying 50+ combined years of experience. Jimmy now hires other licensed barbers and runs private tutoring and weekly grooming classes.
Licensed, then a business owner — in about two years.
untouchablecutz.com →
Staten Island, NY · @untouchablecutz
04 · The Employer's View
Expo Gentlemen Salon
Not every career story is about opening your own shop — plenty of graduates simply get hired, reliably, by owners who value the training.
Joe, the entrepreneur behind Expo Gentlemen Salon (Staten Island and Brooklyn), isn't a graduate himself — he's an employer. He staffs both locations with licensed barbers who trained well, year after year, because the graduates he brings on perform. If you're wondering whether shops actually want new licensed barbers: this is what that demand looks like from the hiring side.
Owners keep hiring well-trained, licensed barbers.
Staten Island: 326 New Dorp Lane · (718) 980-1100
05 · The Recognized Brand
Otis & Finn
Otis & Finn is one of NYC's most celebrated modern barbershops — featured in GQ, BuzzFeed, HuffPost, FOX5, and PIX11 — with four locations across Long Island City, Court Square, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg.
Licensed graduates are part of the team behind that reputation. James Cavanaugh, working out of Greenpoint, has cut professionally for five years since earning his license — and Otis & Finn names his school on his official bio page.
The right training can land you in a name-brand shop.
otisandfinn.com →
LIC · Court Square · Greenpoint · Williamsburg
06 · The Craft as a Lineage
NYC Barber Shop Museum
On Manhattan's Upper West Side, the NYC Barber Shop Museum — operated under REAMIR & Co. at Columbus Ave & E 70th St, with a second location in Sunny Isles, Miami — is the first museum of its kind in New York City: a working barbershop where every cut happens surrounded by more than a thousand artifacts.
It's run by Arthur Rubinoff, a fourth-generation barber whose lineage stretches from Fergana, Uzbekistan, to the Upper West Side. He opened the museum in June 2018, earned New York Style Magazine's Best Barbershop award in 2015, and now runs it as a 501(c)(3) non-profit.
Barbering is a trade with roots — and a future.
barbershopmuseum.com →
Columbus Ave & E 70th St, Manhattan
The Full Range
One Credential, Many Outcomes
Read across these six shops and a pattern appears: the license is a starting line, not a ceiling. Here's the range of what it can become.
Rent a Chair
Take a station, set your hours, keep your earnings. The classic move once your book is full.
Own the Shop
Open your own doors like Jimmy at Untouchable Cutz — sometimes within a couple of years of licensing.
Build a Brand
Grow into a name-brand or multi-location operation like Levels or Otis & Finn — media, product lines, and a following.
The Takeaway
A License Is a Starting Line, Not a Finish
Get licensed. Get hired. Rent a chair. Open your own shop. Hire the next generation. These six shops show the range of what one credential can turn into — and none of them started as anything but a beginner deciding to learn the trade.