Jessie Ponce unlocked the doors in February 2020, but only a few weeks later, the coronavirus pandemic began. With support from his brother, Ponce was able to keep his lifelong dream alive and reopened with five empty chairs. 

Ponce wanted to create a space where employees and clients felt supported and cared for. 

“Even if you feel like everyone is against you, whether it be your family, friends or people online, this place was meant to be a support system. To hear and see you,” he said. 

Almost five years later the shop has become everything he set out to make.

“There really isn’t another shop like this and people come here for that reason,” said Jody Sosa Ponce’s friend and coworker. “We might not be super high-end, but we have a community-based space with style and flavor.”

When most people think of going to the barber, they picture adjustable chairs in front of mirrors, conversations over the sound of hairdryers, and snipping scissors. The Greater Good is just like that with six chairs at personally decorated stations and intentionally selected stylists working and chatting with clients. 

“I never really asked anyone to work here,” said Ponce “Everyone that has crossed paths here, was meant to be, that’s why it feels like a family.”  

David Newell started cutting his own hair as a sophomore in high school, working his way up to becoming the newest member of the Greater Good family. 

He said the shop does more than financially support him. 

“For me, it’s like a little home.” he said. “It just feels safe and I’m doing what I like to do and feel comfortable doing it.”

Barbering has evolved since the historical services of, “bloodletting, tooth extraction, cauterization, and tonsorial surgery in addition to grooming,” according to a National Library of Medicine paper. 

The Greater Good’s accepting environment allows workers to thrive and feel supported. 

“The shop is the spine, it keeps you up,”  said Jody Sosa, the fourth chair after he moved from Vegas. 

Soas talked about how the Greater Good has thrown community events, supports charities and volunteered to cut hair in the park for people experiencing homelessness. 

Diego Marquez was the first chair in the shop after it opened and said he has seen the strength of their presence in the community grow. 

“You know we wouldn’t be who we are today if it wasn’t for the people that decided to come in,” said Marquez. “Ultimately it’s the people who make the space, that’s what I’ve seen the most out of the Greater Good.”

These young entrepreneurs make their living by creating and maintaining a clientele. That takes more than being a highly skilled barber, it takes people skills. 

Johnny Vasquez, born and raised in Phoenix, spent the past two-and-a-half years at The Greater Good.  

“When I first started I didn’t really think cutting hair was an art, but the deeper I got into it the more I realized that we are like people’s therapists,” Vasquez said. 

Trust between barbers and clients is a significant aspect of the relationship according to the Associated Barber College of San Diego.

Nevin Hernandez moved from California to join the Greater Good family where he’s spent the last three years.

“We see people during the most important time of their lives, good and bad,” said Hernandez. “Weddings, funerals, graduations, whatever that looks like, good or bad, often it starts and ends with a haircut.”