Innovation

Co-founder Paul Sumayao was among those who were downsized from his company during the pandemic. He and his partner decided to create their own business. They started a creative agency, Studio Hibang, in 2021. A year later, they expanded the business by opening a queer-friendly barbershop. Opening a barbershop was strategic because there is a large market for grooming services. Due to government restrictions, the demand for grooming services was high during the pandemic. Furthermore, the expansion aligned with their existing offering, providing customer service.

The founders wanted to make a statement that non-heterosexual people need safe spaces as well. In our conversation, Paul said, “We tried digging for openly queer-friendly barbershops in the Philippines but could not find any, so we decided to own it – be the first queer barbershop in the Philippines.” There may be existing queer-owned or queer-friendly barbershops, but they were not vocal about it.

The name “Barbierro” is a combination of two words. “Barbie,” which is often used as a slur in Filipino to describe effeminate, gay men, and “Barbero,” which is a Filipino word for barber and is perceived as masculine. Their logo is an image of a merman or “sirena” (mermaid), which usually symbolizes those who are queer or trans. The founders ensure that the Barbierro barbers undergo Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Expression (SOGIE) training 1-2 times per year.

Inspiration

Growing up as an effeminate kid in the province, Paul often felt uncomfortable going to barbershops despite being openly gay. He is the eldest among his siblings. In our interview, he shared that there was a dreadful feeling every time he and his siblings would get a haircut. He would be forced to change the way he acts, dresses, and engages in “masculine” conversations to avoid drawing negative attention from barbers and customers. Many members of the community have experienced similar situations or worse, based on Paul's conversations with other queer folks.

Paul has always been passionate about advocating for queer topics and rights. He was a literature major and is a queer writer. Paul worked in retail for ten years and took a postgraduate degree in Entrepreneurship at Jose Rizal University. He told me a story about when his professor asked him what he would want to do if he were unemployed. According to our conversation with Paul, he declared, “I don't want to be an employee forever. I want to do something that makes sense for my brand as a queer person and writer. I authored Bikol Bakla: Anthology of Bikolnon Gay Trans Queer Writing, and my college thesis was "A Qualitative Analysis of Queer Writers in the 2012s/2013s". I’ve always been an advocate for queer politics, and I try to make the queer agenda mainstream. This was my driving force when my professor asked me what I wanted to do if I was not employed. I wanted to open a barbershop to address the gap within the market for queer-friendly barbershops in the Philippines.”

Overall impact

Barbierro Barbershop was able to draw the attention of many people and news outlets during its launch as the first queer barbershop in the Philippines. During our discussion, Paul shared the highlights and challenges of their business.

Paul said, “At the moment, we find it difficult to find local, queer barbers in Biñan because of the proximity of our location in major cities like Muntinlupa or Makati. [Queer barbers] usually work in salons, and we want to break the stigma that if you are gay, you are a ‘parloristang bakla’ (a gay stylist working in a salon or parlor). We hope to have more queer or non-binary barbers. We are welcome to have them.” In addition, he shared, “This is also one of the triggers for why we started the ‘GUPITCREW’ initiative, which was named after the Pit Crew from Ru Paul’s Drag Race. We want to train out-of-school transgender or queer youth within communities. What we’ll do is look for 8 – 10 out-of-school transgender or queer youth and train them in our shop and provide them with barber tools. They can either work with us in the future or on their own, so they have their income generation.” Paul shared that many LGBTQIA+ youth have experienced discrimination and bullying in school, which is one of the reasons why many have decided not to continue pursuing their education. Other youth have been kicked out of their homes by their families because of their sexuality and gender identity.

The Barbierro team wants to offer this program on a bi-annual basis. This program will also help build a pipeline of queer and trans barbers. The GUPITCREW initiative also teaches students the importance of entrepreneurship, which can help them establish financial independence and have a better future. Barbierro Barbershop has partnered with local and international non-governmental and nonprofit organizations such as Angat Buhay, the Philippine LGBT Chamber of Commerce, STRANDS for Trans, and Safe Spaces PH.

Business benefit

Despite launching its operations in July 2022 and being new in the industry, Barbierro Barbershop has already planned out its expansion in the country. Barbierro Barbership already has existing franchise applications in various cities and provinces. Paul mentioned that they want to focus on expanding Barbierro in provinces rather than cities because he would like barbershops to have queer representation there. Growing their business in the province is a blue ocean strategy since these areas have an untapped market. A blue ocean strategy is defined as the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost to open up a new market space and create new demand. LGBTQIA+ topics are not usually discussed in the province, so the barbershop team aims to start conversations in these areas.

Currently, Barbierro offers regular barber services to their customers. As the business expands, they would also like to incorporate more grooming services such as perm and eyebrow grooming. 40% of the customers are heterosexual men. However, they have a growing population of customers within the LGBTQIA+ community. They estimate that around 12%-13% are within the LGBTQIA+ community, and 3%-4% of those are transgender men and lesbians, which they said is an emerging demographic. Paul says, “Our customers would like to have a safe space where they can get a haircut without barbers asking them why they want to have their hair cut short or have traditional masculine hairstyles.”

A good 30% of their customers are moms who bring their kids to get a haircut. According to Paul, “It’s a nice demographic to have in our barbershop because the kids may develop a brand affinity when they grow up. They will be reminded that this is where their parents would bring them as a child. Our space is designed around how mothers behave. They want to bring their kids to a barbershop with good ambiance, nice seating, privacy, and WIFI.” They also have senior citizen customers who want a decent haircut. Having straight men and women customers coming in is a good sign for the business because it demonstrates that they are still able to attract this demographic despite being a queer barbershop. Overall, this shows that there is a good number of heterosexual people who are allies of the LGBTQIA+ community.

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Social and environmental benefit

After interviewing Paul, I can say that he and his partner are truly passionate about advocating LGBTQIA+ rights in the Philippines. Without sufficient laws to ensure the safety of the LGBTQIA+ community, Paul and his partner started to offer that through their barbershop. They took an extra step by offering training programs to the out-of-school LGBTQIA+ youth so that they can gain new skills and land a job or start their own business. Partnering with more people and organizations is vital to reach more young adults and help them find decent jobs.

Looking ahead, there are several ways that the business plans to benefit society in the future as well as the present. As the business expands in the city and provinces, Barbierro would also like to prioritize hiring LGBTQIA+ staff. As mentioned, they have challenges hiring local barbers who identify as LGBTQIA+ because of proximity to cities, and others are opting to find better opportunities abroad. They will be able to progress in achieving SDG 5 – Gender Equality once this expansion starts.

Furthermore, the stereotype that queer and trans people who want to work in the personal care industry should be working in parlors or salons still exists. This is another conversation that they would like to start – hair has no gender. According to Paul, “We want to normalize the conversations around SOGIE (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity/Expression). Before, we usually assign it as ‘bakla’ (gay) or ‘tomboy’ (lesbian), but it's more than just that. The mere fact that we’re here, we’re addressing that gap. Gender is a spectrum. Second, we’re also addressing the gap that hair has no gender. Just because you want a manly haircut, you should go to a barbershop, or if you want a feminine haircut, you should go to a salon. This is a stigma that we want to break. The benefit of doing this normalizes conversations that it is not only gender binaries which can avail grooming services, this also includes the minorities of the society.”

The key takeaway from the conversation with Paul is that people, regardless of their gender identity or sexual preferences, should have the right to have an environment where they can feel safe and grow. The founders of Barbierro Barbershop not only voice their advocacy but they put this into action through their business decisions.

Interview

Ryen Paul Sumayao, Founder