With his barber business, studio and gallery space, education programme, and art and design work, Julius Caesar has found several ways to both unleash and unify his creativity and entrepreneurialism. 18 years ago, the Bay Area native started cutting his family’s hair to help his mother with household expenses. “Being the budget-friendly mom she was, every dollar was counted to make sure we were good at home. I started cutting my dad, grandfather, little brother and myself routinely, which allowed for funds to be allocated to other things we needed around the house.” But what originated as a chore-like objective, quickly blossomed into one of many career paths for Caesar, “The moment I picked up a hair clipper, I instantly fell in love with the process.”

Based in LA for the past eight years, Caesar’s schedule sees him meeting hair clients three days of the week, which frees up time to venture into fashion, starting a hair education programme, co-creating a grooming goods company, painting, and running a creative hub and gallery space. When he isn’t working, which can’t be often, Caesar enjoys thrifting and scouring flea markets for treasures, or visiting local museums and galleries whenever work takes him to a different city. “I’ve recently gotten back into painting on canvas using mixed media (after a 14-year hiatus) amongst other mediums including jewellery design.”

It’s evident that Julius Caesar’s unbound creativity energises his various enterprises, but it’s the attention to detail that first caught my eye; crisp design lines shaved with an unshakable confidence, and slick colour combinations and placements that feel innovative and on trend. We spoke to Caesar about the evolution of his career, why barbering is a lifestyle, and his most memorable haircut to date.

Can you give us a glimpse into what a regular day in the life of Julius Caesar looks like? I’m actually quite habitual when it comes to my daily life, haha. I love the path that I’m on with my career and creative journey. Living and working in downtown LA, there is a lot of craziness all around, but I will say this… I truly do find inspiration in all the chaos. I think my work in different art mediums translates it seamlessly. I like to call it controlled chaos. I have my go-to food spots which include rice bowls, and an array of taco spots, which hold me up pretty much. At ALL HAIL Studio, if I’m not doing hair, I’m usually shooting photos or filming new content for STMNT grooming, and designing for other brands as well as my own. 

Tell us about your journey from starting out cutting hair to becoming a barbershop owner and an educator. I’ve lived in LA for 8 years now, originally coming from my home in the San Francisco Bay Area. A big reason why I moved here was because I wanted to pursue more than just being behind the chair as a barber. LA was the perfect place to get access to a variety of opportunities in other fields I wanted to be involved in, including fashion and design. After my first year in LA, I actually took an intentional hiatus from cutting to pursue wardrobe styling and personal shopping, mainly focusing on the VIP clientele I already built from barbering. After some time, I decided that this subcategory of fashion wasn’t the lane for me, and I was getting education opportunity offers, which led me back to hair.

I told myself, if I was going back behind the chair, I wouldn’t go back full-time, and only allow public availability from Thursdays to Saturdays. I’ve kept this same schedule ever since. This allowed me to pursue the educator role, in which I fully immersed myself all the way up until Covid-19 happened. I’ve been blessed to have worked with some of the most amazing people and companies, been able to travel to many places in the world, and have been privileged to have showcased and educated at most of the biggest hair conventions and platforms.

Before the pandemic, I spent all of 2019 focused on ALL HAIL Academy, an independent education platform and space where I taught, and featured a curated set of other artists and educators to share their knowledge as well. With everything going on, I’ve since put the academy to the side, to focus more on ALL HAIL Studio, which is a hair-driven creative space with a multi-faceted experience focused on the overall aspect of art through hair. The two barbers I have on my team actually started off as students at many of the classes I held at the academy, who have been vetted in to work alongside me at the studio. Like I’ve told them, I’m not here just to build barbers, I’m here to build them as brands. Alongside their weekly cutting schedules, they have access to photo equipment, showroom/meeting spaces, and are constantly pushed to break the mould to become stronger, well-versed artists.

You mentioned before that barbering is not a 9-5, but rather it’s a lifestyle. Can you elaborate on this? I always had it in my mind that I don’t want to just cut hair behind the chair all the time. If you’re treating barbering like a 9-5, its gonna feel like a job that you have to clock in and clock out for. With barbering being so appealing nowadays as a career path, so many only see the cool and fun side of it. What they don’t see is the long hours behind the chair. All the hair and oil flying into you face. The itchy clothes and hair splinters. Your favourite shirt getting ruined with bleach stains… But on a serious note, it is a lifestyle. It’s a lifestyle with so many privileged freedoms, that you have to literally be your own boss and be accountable for what you do with it. You want to be successful in this industry, you have to show up and show out. Simple as that. Chess not Checkers. 

What is the most memorable haircut you’ve given and why? My mom is the one I actually need to give credit to for why I even picked up a hair clipper. She pushed me to pursue any wild dream I may have had, and supported me 110% every single time, with true mom-confidence, haha. She’s the reason why I got my first clipper, obviously it was a house chore at the time, but still. She jokingly pointed out, maybe four years ago, that I literally cut everyone’s hair, and travel everywhere to do so, but I never cut hers. I took that into consideration, and pledged to myself to spend time continuing my education on how to cut long styles. Every year I come home for Christmas, and as a tradition I cut my dad and my lil bro on the same chair in my parents’ dining area; and last year I was able to finally give my mom a haircut too! Although it was a very simple haircut, to me, it meant the world!

How do you keep yourself up to date with current trends and techniques? I don’t think it’s about an intentional method of keeping up to date with trends and techniques, for me it’s rather… I just go with the flow. I like what I like, and if it’s something I want to try out, I just go for it! I immerse myself in fashion and design. I love collecting art and staring at architecture. I’m a big people watcher, especially in foreign countries. It’s something about the movement of society that intrigues me. It all ends up translating into my body of work. In regards to techniques, I apply the same process as if it was any other art medium. I look at it, I try to figure it out organically with no technical restraint, then go back in and learn correct methods to strengthen my skillset while still allowing my creativity to be the prioritised fuel to the fire.

What’s the best thing about working with hair? One of the best things about working with hair is that, for the most part, it’s going to grow back! I wouldn’t consider myself a cookie-cutter stylist in the sense that, naturally each time a client sits down, their end result will always have a new slight variation or twist to what may be their routine cut. I love working with hair based on my clients’ emotions, what’s going on with their lives, and what this haircut or colour can do for them! This way, each individual person that sits in my chair truly gets something custom-tailored and that is 1 of 1 for them.