About Us
More Than a Haircut.
A Barbershop Built on Craft, Family & Community.
Fades & Arches Barbershop has served families and individuals in the Columbia community for two decades. I’ve been barbering professionally since 1996, but my interest in the craft began years before I ever stood behind a professional barber chair.
HOW IT ALL STARTED
From a Pencil and Ruler to Clippers
My interest in barbering started when I was around 12 years old. I started trying to cut my own hair and later began cutting my granddad’s hair.
Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, we were flat-top box fades, steps, designs, and fades shaped and sloped in different directions. I was fascinated watching barbers use clippers to create those shapes in someone’s hair. I wanted to learn how to do it myself.
When Barbering Became My Career
A Decision That Changed Everything
What could I do every day for the rest of my life and still enjoy doing it?
For me, the answer was barbering. I began barbering professionally in 1996. Decades later, I still love doing the work. My goal then was to become the best barber I could be. That goal hasn’t changed.
How Fades & Arches Got Its Name
Sometimes the Right Name Just Comes to You
Opening my own barbershop was always part of the plan. Finding the name took a little more brainstorming. Then one Saturday, while I was cutting a client’s hair in a crowded barbershop, it suddenly came to me.
"I got it - Fades & Arches Barbershop!"
Everybody got quiet. And I said, “That’s it. I got it.”
Fades represents the fade haircuts that are such an important part of the craft.
Arches represents eyebrow arching and shaping. And just like that, Fades & Arches had its name.
THEN & NOW
The Same Barbershop. A New Chapter.
Fades & Arches has changed quite a bit over the years. From the brick exterior and yellow interior of our earlier years
to the remodeled Fades & Arches you see today, we’ve continued investing in the shop while remaining rooted in the same community.
2007-Then
Fades & Arches – 2007
2026-Now
Fades & Arches – 2026
The shop has changed. The styles have changed. The generations have have changed.
BUT WE'RE STILL HERE.
We’ve watched kids become adults, adults become parents and parents become grandparents. Some families have experinerced Fades & Arches across multiple generations. The buliding has evolved, benerations. ffion, tam liarty-oriented atmosphere we set out to create remains at the heart of Fades & Arches.
A Family Story Behind the Shop
During one of my early remodels, my mother and grandmother helped me paint the shop. I gauss it was their turn to help me after all the years I spent painting at their houses. It's a small part of the Fades & Arches story, but it's one I ermember because this business has always been about more than the bullding itself.
Generations in Our Chairs
Over the years, Fades & Arches has served children, teenagers, adults, parents, grandparents, professionals, women and entire families. Some of the children who once sat in our chairs are adults today. Some are now bringing in children of their own. We're not simply ing customers come and go - we're watching families grow.