Dean
Hi! I am Dean. I was born in a little town in Slovenia that borders Austria. I am a very positive person and I show that to everyone around me through my cheerful ways and the love that I have for my craft.
The road to becoming a barber was a very long and hard one for me. It all started off very early, just when I turned 15 years old. At this time of my life, I looked for some kind of balance, next to my studies in school. I watched a lot of old movies and discovered how men used to go to barbershops back then to spruce up. This is when I decided that I wanted to bring joy to others through putting passion and hard work into giving everyone the opportunity to celebrate the act of sprucing yourself up – I started small – it all began with cutting my family and friends hair in my spare time.
After school, I worked in the tourism and hospitality industry. Having worked in hospitality, gave me an immense advantage identifying peoples wishes and needs. Through working in tourism, I was given the opportunity to travel the world and see and live in countries like Ireland, Slovenia and Canada. My true inner calling, being a barber, has always been in the back of my head on all my travels though.
The tourism and hospitality industry was good as long it lasted. One day it just wasn’t for me anymore though which is why I decided to drop it all and become what has always been my true passion and a dream for so long: a barber. Next to my first attempts in the barber-craftsmanship, I had the opportunity to dig into this world in New York City, where my dad got a traditional shave in 1993. I was head over heels – “A real barbershop!”. I returned with a clipper and started to put time into perfecting Mohawks and bald heads. The Punk and Hardcore-Scene have been part of my life from early on – this is why it played a lot into the way I style and cut at work. We welcomed the barbers from “Schorem” to our scene-life in 2015 and I was flashed by their hairstyles and tattoos. Cool guys that are hairdressers and wear tattoos – something I didn’t encounter everyday. The very first thing coming to my mind hanging out with them was “In the future, I want to and will be doing exactly what they’re doing!”. In 2016, I saw a job posting stating that they are looking for a barber – it was from “Holy Tiger Barbershop”. I immediately thought to myself: THAT is my chance. I got lucky, Jürgen immediately saw not just a spark but the fire that was burning inside of me for this profession and became my mentor. He put all of his knowledge and expertise into teaching me everything he knows about this craft. After receiving my training, I went to The Old School Barber Academy in Rotterdam and gained another diploma.
Holy Tier has sparked even more love and passion for this craft. But „job“ would be the wrong word – it really is a philosophy of life to me. The dominating influences are my mentor, chief and friend Jürgen, Rob from Schorem and Johnny Baba. I try to combine all of these influences while trying to also create something unique – but, always in the Classic Old School Holy Tiger Style.
