Words by Cassidy Blackwell
Photography by Aundre Larrow
When we ask our Bevel Code fam in NYC about where they head to get their weekly line ups, one name always comes right to the top: Denny Moe’s Superstar Barbershop. The Harlem-based shop has been open for almost a decade, but its owner Denny Moe has been in the business for over 30 years. We caught up with him to learn what it is that gives him, his shop and his clients that superstar appeal.
When Denny Moe describes how he got into barbering, it seems as though fate simply placed clippers in his path. He tells a story of getting ready for the Officer’s Ball for his ROTC program at his North Carolina high school and looking for something in the house. “I can’t for the life of me remember what I was looking for, all I remember is that I found clippers and I started cutting my hair before the ball,” Denny Moe says with a laugh.
At the ball and even the day after people kept asking who cut his hair. When he told one neighbor that he did it himself, the man replied said ‘If you can cut hair that good, you can cut my son’s and mine even better.” Before he knew it, a 16-year old Denny Moe was walking around town cutting hair from door to door. “After awhile it just became what I was doing,” Denny Moe explains. “The money came too. I call it the Michael Jordan syndrome: do what you love, the money will come.”
I call it the Michael Jordan syndrome: do what you love, the money will come.
With the goodwill and support of his aunt, Denny Moe moved to NYC where he graduated from barber school and began to work for a man named Bob Flowers at a shop called Superstar Barbershop. “I thought I was the man, I thought I was the shit. I was so happy that he cut a head of hair before I did because that’s when I humbled up. He swung clippers like a cowboy swung a rope. I was so fortunate to learn from someone like him. He taught me how to be a barber,” says Denny Moe of the formative experience.
He swung clippers like a cowboy swung a rope. I was so fortunate to learn from someone like him.
Soon, Denny Moe’s notoriety grew beyond the walls of the barbershop and he found himself with a roster of celebrity clients, heading on tour with names like Doug E. Fresh, Keith Sweat, Bobby Brown, New Edition and Gerald Levert. While on the road, Denny Moe was able to live off his per diem, saving the rest of his money. Once back home in NYC, he decided to turn those savings into a barbershop of his own.
In 2006, Denny Moe opened the doors to Denny Moe’s Superstar Barbershop in Harlem. Today the shop is home to 10 barbers and 3 stylists. Denny Moe’s son, Denny Moe Junior, is also one of the barbers on the team, taking care not only of heads, but also of business administration as needed. Despite the shared name however, Denny Moe never wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. “I wanted him to be in business or go corporate, but he’s a barber’s son so this business is what he knows,” Denny Moe says. “When he started at the shop though, his cuts were so bad that I thought he was going to put me out of business.”
Do you see anything you can do better? If the answer is yes, then do it.
Denny Moe’s approach to teaching his own son the nuances of a perfect cut hold great lessons for all barbers, novices and veterans alike. “I always ask him, ‘look at the cut you just did. Do you see anything you can do better? If the answer is yes, then do it. You don’t want any client walking out of your chair if you haven’t given them your very best.”
http://bevelcode.com/inside-the-shop/its-denny-moe