Life isn’t easy and for many of us finding someone to talk to about our difficulties can be even harder. The burden of putting our struggles and our pain onto someone else feels counter intuitive, so many of us don’t.
But Sanctuary Barbers in Bath wants to help eradicate any struggles or negative thoughts that may arise through ones life, they want to do this by creating a frequent atmosphere that makes it easy to talk about mental health.
They have built a high quality barbershop with mental health therapy thrown on top and we had the privilege of being invited by Sanctuary Barber’s owner Jay to experience what it would be like to use their service, and I can comfortably say that Jay is creating an incredible area for men of the city who simply want to talk.
Tucked away on the second floor of Northgate St (near Waitrose) Jay is building one of the best barber shops in Bath. He has had help from family and friends to make his shop as comfortable as possible for the customer with unique styling, high quality cuts and a backroom that will be exclusively used for therapy sessions.
Sanctuary Barbers has been open just two months, with Jay investing everything he has into getting his business off the ground and beginning what I believe will be an incredibly rewarding path for him.
At the time of our interview Jay is focused on building a customer base, introducing them to the environment, spreading his service by word of mouth and letting everyone know that there is a place in the city to release.
While I was receiving a haircut from Jay we had a long, deep conversation about mental health and how it has a negative stigma that society deems as “weak”, but in reality we both know as men that have been through dark spots in our lives that in fact it can be a blessing in disguise.
It builds strength, it builds awareness, and it builds an incredible emotion that the world lacks, gratefulness.
Jay opened up about his struggles in life, what he has been through and how it has led him on a path of giving back through Sanctuary Barbers. Jay has gone through things I wouldn’t even wish on my worst enemies.
He opened up and calmed me as a customer, he supplied me with a firm understanding of how the mind likes to wander and what to do should you feel like you are moving deeper and deeper into the storm.
In his words: “I want to be with you while you are in the middle of the storm, but guide you to a place where you can pull yourself out of it on your own”.
It’s a incredible talent that he has, not only to share with you his experiences, but how he went through the tough spots and came out the other side as a new, better man that simply wants to help.
Partnering his expertise with great haircuts is where the magic truly happens at Sanctuary Barbers.
A magic that I personally think will go far, and Jay’s vision of opening up many other barbershops across the UK is certainly obtainable as this magic he has crafted is rare to experience, but once experienced it really does let you release any bottled up emotions on a recurring basis, which in itself is an effective way of thinking better for the long-term.
New barbershops like this are always welcome in the city, you can see when you step into his shop that he is at the beginning of an incredible business journey. It’s going to be a pleasant experience to see the growth of Sanctuary Barbers over the years.
Jay donates £1 from every haircut to a mental health charity, and he’s trying to partner with businesses in the city to use his service as a place for employees to go to if they need someone to talk to. Jay positioned the barbershop perfectly, tucked away so nobody can peak through the windows to see you, this is because of that awful stigma that society has and it also adds security for some of his customers.
It’s genuinely a great place for the men of Bath to go to if you want not only a great haircut but someone to talk to and to simply listen. I think it’s going to be an incredible asset for the city and Bath needs more people like Jay, someone that wants the challenge of starting a small business that gives back.
Please give Sanctuary Barber’s a trial, go for a haircut, have a chat with Jay and I promise you it’s likely you will go back. Well done Jay, we are proud of you.
Brandon has lived in Bath his whole life, exploring the local food, testing far too many pubs and even building his own media company just outside of the city. He has years of experience travelling the world and now he wants to help the city flourish using his content building experience.
