Teens of Bay Area

Saturday evening, you sit on the black leather chair in a garage. You hear the soft buzz of clippers working swiftly around your head. You smell the aroma of sea spray. You stare at the mirror and admire your new, fresh low taper fade. 

Every weekend, this is the scene that paints Sean Kimura’s garage. Inspired by the flood of barber-related content he saw online, Sean was compelled to pick up a new hobby, while conquering the trend himself. He’s now a senior at Cupertino High School, but since his sophomore year, this is what he’s spent his afternoons doing: practicing on friends, while slowly refining his craft using advice he’d pick up online. 

“I saw it online and I was like, ‘Oh, this is really satisfying,’” Sean said. “This looks fun to do, and I thought I was good with my hands, having played baseball in the past.” 

Now, he’s consistently cutting his peers’ hair on the weekends. But realizing the potential of combining content creation with his growing skills, he launched an Instagram and a TikTok page, which attracted over 7,000 and 17,000 followers respectively. His total view count? It’s now over 55 million. 

“I initially posted haircuts as more of a joke,” Sean said. “Then I started putting out more videos because I was getting a larger audience — that’s when it started to become more serious.” 

Through his Instagram, Sean collaborated with several established brands. His favorite collaboration was with Based Body Works, a men’s hair care brand and one of most widely known brands. Despite the success, initially building his credibility has actually been one of the greatest challenges he’s navigated. 

“At the beginning, there was no content without my business, because I would have to make a video based on my haircut,” Sean said. “The hard part about that is building up your clientele. You have to market yourself as if you’re the best.”

Though, this success wouldn’t have followed he if didn’t decide to try it out on a whim. Now, he’ll tell anyone to just give things a go.

“There’s a quote from Dwight Schrute from The Office that I’ve followed. It says, ‘You only live once. False! You live every day, you die once,’” Sean said. “So that’s why I would say to just try to do everything.”

Looking for a low-taper fade? Look no further — here’s his instagram: @sean_blendz.