Jonny Silvestre cuts Erick Ramirez’s hair. Ramirez is a longtime client of the Vasquez Barber Shop in Cambridge’s Wellington-Harrington neighborhood. Photo by Vivian Ainomugisha
The buzz of clippers blends with the rhythms of Latin music at Vasquez Barber Shop, where the chairs are almost always occupied.
Angel Nunez, 16, a high school junior, discovered Vasquez five years ago when he moved to the area. He liked the low fade shop co-owner Andy Matias gave him and introduced his younger brother to the shop.
“He was the best, so I just kept going back,” Nunez said of Matias.
Nunez’s friends noticed his haircut and started going there too. Now they sometimes coordinate appointments so they can get their hair cut together. Last fall Nunez and a few of his soccer teammates got matching cuts.
“We all got buzz cuts for the high school season,” he said.
Andrés Rodríguez and Hailey Estrella cut their customers’ hair. The men are two of the nine barbers at Vasquez Barber Shop.Photo by Vivian Ainomugisha
Edwin Vasquez opened the barber shop in 2012 on Hampshire Street and ran it there for five years. In 2017 he sold it to Matias and Jhonny Silvestre, who moved it to its current location a quarter-mile away on Cambridge Street.
Silvestre, 34, and Matias, 33, grew up as neighbors and friends in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. Silvestre immigrated with his family to Cambridge in 2012 in search of financial opportunities, and Matias followed in 2017 in search of opportunities and to join his wife and son.
For Silvestre, the barbershop was more than just a business – it was a way to build a future in a new country while enjoying the independence of being his own boss. Both men had begun cutting hair in the Dominican Republic.
The shop is cozy, with minimalist decor, sleek gray and black tones and nine barber chairs arranged close together. Hairspray and cologne perfume the air. The buzzing of clippers and the snipping of scissors fill the space. The barbers are tidying up constantly, sweeping the floor and using blow dryers to round up stray hair, keeping the shop inviting throughout the day.
A “neighborhood epicenter”
A longtime patron describes the shop as a “neighborhood epicenter” where customers reconnect with friends and make new ones.
Erick Ramirez, 28, has been coming to the barber shop since high school, trusting Silvestre with his haircuts for more than a decade.
“My friend put me onto him, but my friend got put on by another friend – it was like a friend chain,” said Ramirez, a valet attendant who lives in Boston.
Ramirez’s taste in hairstyles has evolved over the years, and he has trusted Silvestre to guide the transitions – from “a big ’fro” to braids and now a shorter cut.
“At this point he’s not even my barber – he is like my brother now,” he said. The two share a love for “Dominican softball” and play on the Truenos (“Thunder”), a recreational team started by Matias.
Franklin Sanchez, 53, of Cambridge, was drawn to the shop when it first opened, excited to see it owned by people from his home country. He’s stayed a customer from one location to the next.
“Since I met them over there they’ve been so helpful for the community,” Sanchez said.
Andy Matias trims a client’s hair. Matias is co-owner of Vasquez Barber Shop on Cambridge Street in Cambridge. Photo by Vivian Ainomugisha
Students from nearby schools, including Harvard and MIT, visit the shop regularly for haircuts.
Karen Flores, a Cambridge resident, has been bringing her two young sons for haircuts for the past two years after learning about the place from a cousin. She said her toddler doesn’t react well to the electric razor.
“He usually has an issue with the machines,” Flores said. “He doesn’t like them, like most babies.”
Vasquez barbers have the touch, though: One cutting the young child’s hair as he wiggled in the seat, sometimes causing the seat to spin, handed the boy a blue comb to distract him. That kept the child still enough to get through the haircut.
For Silvestre and Matias, their community hub is only the beginning. Vasquez Barber Shop opened a second location in 2020 in Watertown, where five barbers work, and the owners are readying a third in Cambridge – at the original spot on Hampshire Street. Silvestre and Matias hope to open across Massachusetts.
“I want more for the barber shop,” Matias said. “Hopefully three or four more.”
Vasquez Barber Shop, 1052 Cambridge St., Wellington-Harrington, Cambridge
This story is part of a partnership between Cambridge Day and the Boston University Department of Journalism.