The idea of the Fade Room was borne out of sheer frustration on the part of one of its principals, Steffan-Chad Haughton, from battling traffic to and from across town and not having the option of getting a haircut on one side of the city.

“I was always leaving my office in Fairview and heading downtown, fighting traffic, fighting for parking space, trying to get to my appointment on time. I was really frustrated about this and during a conversation with a friend of mine, Anokye Miller, we realised that we had similar concepts about how to do a barbershop. Eventually, we partnered and the Fade Room was opened in December 2018 inside Icon Feareview Mall,” said Haughton.

“The principles around this business are convenience and comfort. We offer booking online, adequate parking, a nice, spacious environment and no feeling of being rushed, no overtly loud music, just a wholesome environment,” Haughton added.

Among the services offered at the Fade Room are ingrown facial hair tweeze/extraction, facial cleanse, scrub and moisturiser, rinse and condition and haircut and shave.

“We didn’t want to be just the regular barbershop; we cut all kinds of hair. We offer warm towel treatment with any shave, facial tweezing; it’s more of a consultative approach that our barbers take. They’ll do the tweeze but also make recommendations to clear up the issue. We are also going into branded products as well, such as beard oils and bump treatments,” Haughton explained.

The ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic has brought twists and turns to operations and coming out of this Faded Conversations was developed to provide a space where dialogue could be had on topics affecting mental health and coping in the pandemic.

“I’ve always thought that the best conversations happen in barbershops; people that don’t even know each other will be willing to interact and talk on a topic. We wanted to capture that and give it a specific direction, so we started a show called Faded Conversations. Its shot inside the shop with actual customers and guests. We touch on topics, especially dealing with mental health; this is not usually spoken on by men and I believe the barbershop is the most comfortable place to talk about it,” Haughton stated.

— Text & Photos: Aceion Cunningham