Platinum Boyz, the Story

Platinum Boyz, a black barbershop located in a multi ethnic section of Biscayne Boulevard, prospers due to the warm environment they create and the professionalism of its barbers. Fancy furniture stores and restaurants, motels, community centers, and fast-food restaurants surround the barbershop in a collage of tones and flavors. But inside the barber shop, a different world takes place.

On the front left chair, the client was facing to the ceiling as Hanes Wousess, who everyone calls Kat and is also the manager, was meticulously doing the edges of his beard. Even though this requires surgical precision, Kat managed to handle the blade and rap in unison with the speakers, smiling in between verses.

Other three barbers were working at the front right chair and the contiguous chairs toward the back, doing a goatee and two cuts respectively. Two young men were patiently waiting on the comfy, black chairs next to the entrance. Everyone seemed to participate of a celebration while exchanging singings and looks through the mirrors hanged along the side walls of the rectangular room. The smell of after-shave lotion sealed the deal.

The idea of being pleased while getting a hair cut is the core principle of Platinum Boyz. That is why it was named after the barbershop a cappella vocal quartet Platinum, which has won several international quartet championships. Barbershop vocal music began in the late 1930s with a cappella quartets that used to sign simple songs to delight the clientele according to the Barbershop Harmony Society.

Platinum opened its doors in 2009. Ever since, the shop gives service mainly to the black community split at both sides of the busy artery, in an area known as Morningside. However, some clients derive from the various business places neighboring the barbershop.

Sean Davis, 33, who has been a barber in California, Virginia, New York, Las Vegas and Miami for the last 19 years, believes Platinum Boyz stands out in comparison to other black barber shops in the area because of its prices and quality of service. A regular cut costs $ 10.00 for kids and $ 15.00 for adults. Designs that include words, symbols and arts fluctuate around $ 80.00.

“We don’t have the advertising they have; but, we have lower prices and better performance," Sean Said.    "Clients come often times from those places and we have to fix what they did. Many of them become our regulars."

However, other barbershops such as T.O. Cutz Barber Shop, owned by NFL star Terrell Owens, and Chop Shop Barber Shop are way more popular than Platinum in the area. They spend robust amounts of money in celebrity advertising; therefore, many clients gravitate towards them, making serious competition to Platinum Boyz.

The shop’s website and word-of-mouth are the primary forms of advertising for Platinum boyz. Still, they find the way to appeal to the general public and celebrities alike. Rapper Rick Ross, singer Travie McCoy and Miami Heat Dexter Pittman are some of the celebrities Platinum barbers have worked with.