By René A. Guzman
A lot of passion goes into showing Spurs love on your scalp. Just ask Joe Barajas, better known as Joe Barber.
The Razor Sharp Cutz master barber at Ingram Park Mall has turned plenty of heads with his sporting hair designs. He recently made, ahem, headlines after shaving the likeness of Spurs forward Matt Bonner into the head of 12-year-old Patrick Gonzalez.
For Barajas, such a work of art is just another in a long line of buzz-worthy buzz cuts.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” Barajas said, noting he started cutting famous faces into not-so-famous heads in 2005 with a depiction of Spurs point guard Tony Parker, though he found viral video fame with a Michael Jordan clip he did in January.
Barajas has also made hair designs of Spurs stars Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, as well as the Miami Heat’s LeBron James, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant. He’s even done depictions of Ray Charles and Marvin Gaye.
“It’s whatever that fan wants,” Barajas said. “I try to meet their needs.”
For a Spurs fan like George Renteria, that means maintaining the Silver and Black on his head every week. Barajas just gave the telemarketer his regular Friday touch-up of a shaved, black-dyed Spurs logo outlined with silver dye.
“If the Spurs are playing, I’m here to get this haircut,” Renteria said, wearing a Duncan jersey and Spurs earring.
Barajas usually takes two hours to complete such cuts. He starts with an image hunt on his iPad, then uses grayscale shading with hair dye and pattern clipping with various clippers, plus a handheld razor blade broken in half to etch in those extra-fine details.
Since Patrick and Bonner are both redheads, Barajas used Patrick’s own hair color to depict Bonner and black hair dye for the image’s outlines.
That hairdo ultimately cost the Woodlake Hills Middle School student a one-day suspension. Patrick reluctantly shaved the $75 haircut to go back to class, but netted tickets to Game 2 against the not-so-coincidentally named Los Angeles Clippers, along with a meet-and-greet with Bonner and a signed jersey and shoes.
Mike Rios at Knockout Cuts says cutting such designs into kids’ hair be tough due to the smaller canvas. That may explain why the barber is especially proud of a full lion he cut into a boy’s head for a zoo trip.
“It’s just really good for one event,” said Rios, who cuts his share of boxers like Manny Pacquiao into fans’ heads as well as more kid-friendly art like Angry Birds and Transformers logos.
Rios says such cuts grow out in about a week-and-half, so there isn’t too much time for buyer’s remorse. And one can always go back to edit or eliminate the hair art, as Rios notes many New England Patriots fans did after the team lost the last Super Bowl.
As Barajas says, a haircut isn’t just a haircut, it’s a representation of one’s self. And that goes well beyond wearing passion on one’s sleeve.
“I’m nothing but Spurs,” Renteria said. “Spurs is in my blood.”
And always on his mind.
rguzman@express-news.net
Twitter: @reneguz