Scissors slicing through hair isn’t the only thing that can be heard in Kampus Kuts. 

The barbershop on South Illinois Ave has served local community with haircuts and conversation since 2006.

Co-owner of Kampus Kuts Moshe Anderson said conversations are important in helping create the atmosphere in the barbershop.

“It builds and promotes diversity,” Anderson said. “It helps build communities, bonds and comradery with students and city residents.”

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The location and history of Kampus Kuts is enough to keep it successful, and because of this little promotion or advertising for business is needed, Anderson said.

“We’re the closest barbershop to the university,” Anderson said. “We don’t have to do much marketing, promotions or advertisements.”

Stephen Elijio, a senior at SIU studying Business Finance said he always recommends Kampus Kuts to anyone that asks about barbershops.

Elijio gets his haircut every two or three weeks and tries to go to the same barber every visit, because he knows that they’ll get his haircut right every time.

“It’s that trust factor,” Elijio said. “I’ve had bad haircuts, and I want to avoid that.”

Elijio said he sees students in the shop every time he comes as well as a diverse group of people.

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“There’s a variety of people from different ethnicities and backgrounds,” Elijio said. “The community part plays a role in bringing everyone together.”

Elijio said he goes to Kampus Kuts because it has a long history of good quality service.

Quivon Bledsoe, a barber at Kampus Kuts has been working there for over a year and has been interested in cutting hair since high school. When he saw he could work at Kampus Kuts, he jumped on the opportunity.

“It was one of the best decisions ever,” Bledsoe said.

Bledsoe said that people come to Kampus Kuts even in the harshest weather, using Carbondale’s recent ice storm as an example.

“There were still people coming,” Bledsoe said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s cold, sleeting or icy. They don’t care. Like I said, they want a haircut.”

Hairstyle trends change all the time, Bledsoe said. Many times the barbers won’t know the latest look until a client comes in and shows them a picture.

“People look up celebrities,” Elijio said. “If there’s something new going on, they may want to imitate it.”

While new trends are how Bledsoe is able to challenge himself as a barber, he said he really enjoys the relaxing nature of cutting hair.

“I just love cutting, that’s why I got into it,” Bledsoe said. “It’s a chill job. What beats that? Just chilling, cutting hair, making good money. I like everybody here, so I like coming in to chat with everybody.”

Kampus Kuts is a barbershop catering to the community, students, and regular people, Anderson said.

“We pride ourselves on being a diverse shop,” Anderson said. “We’ve got people from all different cultures, races, creeds, political views, cultural views and that’s about it.”

Staff writer Jeremy Brown can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JeremyBrown_DE.

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