Today we’d like to introduce you to Steve Jaimes.
Hi Steve , can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started cutting hair at 13 years old growing up in Chicago. At the time, I didn’t know barbering would take me anywhere. I was just cutting my younger siblings, friends, and people around the neighborhood. Growing up around gun violence and losing people close to me at a young age, specifically at 17 when a close friend was shot and killed in my car, changed the way I looked at life. Barbering became one of the things that kept me focused and gave me somewhere to put my energy.
After graduating high school in 2019, I joined the United States Marine Corps, which eventually brought me to Oceanside and North County San Diego in 2020. The Marine Corps was another chapter that challenged me in a lot of ways and forced me to grow up quickly. When I got out in 2023, I was trying to figure out who I was outside of the uniform and what I actually wanted my life to represent.
Toward the end of 2023, I started volunteering and cutting hair with Humanity Showers in Oceanside. What started as me showing up with my clippers and giving free haircuts eventually became Humanity Barbers. In 2024, after another incident of gun violence hit close to home here in North County, I started working more intentionally with young aspiring barbers. I saw a lot of myself in them. Some just needed somewhere to go, somebody to believe in what they were doing, or an opportunity to use barbering for something positive.
Since then, Humanity Barbers has grown into a community movement centered around mentorship, service, and giving the next generation opportunities through barbering. We’ve worked with youth throughout San Diego County, served people experiencing homelessness, collaborated with community organizations, and created spaces where barbers of all ages and experience levels can serve, learn, and build relationships with one another.
At the same time, barbering has opened doors I never imagined when I first picked up clippers at 13. I’ve been able to travel, host and MC barber events across the country and internationally, share my story on different stages, and build relationships throughout the industry. Through all of it, I still consider North County home and continue cutting hair and serving the community here every week.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. A lot of what I’m building today came from some of the hardest periods of my life. Losing a close friend to gun violence at 17 changed me at a young age, and joining the Marine Corps shortly after high school brought its own challenges. The military gave me discipline, structure, and experiences I’ll always carry with me, but transitioning out was difficult. For years, so much of my identity was connected to being a Marine, and suddenly I had to figure out who Steve was again.
When I started Humanity Barbers, I found a new sense of purpose through serving other people. But even purpose can become overwhelming when you don’t create balance. There were times when I poured so much of myself into the community, the youth, events, and trying to be there for everybody that I started losing myself in the process. I had to learn that helping people doesn’t mean neglecting my own growth.
Another challenge has been building something without always having the resources or a blueprint. Humanity Barbers started with me simply showing up with my clippers. There wasn’t a large organization behind it, a big budget, or a perfect plan. A lot of it has been learning through experience, building relationships, making mistakes, and continuing to show up even when I wasn’t sure what the next step looked like.
I’ve also had to accept that growth isn’t always going to look impressive from the outside. Sometimes growth means doing less, restructuring, stepping back, or setting a stronger foundation for what you want to build long term. I’m still learning that now.
My faith has played a big role throughout all of it. There have been moments where I questioned my direction, my decisions, and even myself, but I continue to believe there is purpose behind what I’ve experienced. I’m far from perfect and I still have things I’m working through, but I think that’s part of my story too. I don’t want young people to look at me and think I have everything figured out. I want them to see somebody who has fallen short, continued growing, and keeps choosing to show up.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My work has grown into much more than just cutting hair. Professionally, I’m a barber, host/MC, community organizer, and founder of Humanity Barbers. Barbering is the foundation of everything I do, but I’ve always believed the chair can be bigger than the haircut itself.
As a barber, I specialize in men’s grooming and fades, but what I’m probably most known for is how I’ve used barbering to connect different worlds. Through Humanity Barbers, I’ve been able to bring together professional barbers, students, aspiring young barbers, nonprofits, and members of the community through mentorship and service. We’ve provided haircuts to people experiencing homelessness, participated in community outreach throughout San Diego County, and given young barbers opportunities to develop their skills while learning the importance of giving back.
Another major part of my career is hosting and MCing. I’ve had opportunities to host barber battles, expos, and industry events throughout California, across the country, and internationally, including Mexico City. Being on the microphone comes naturally to me because I genuinely enjoy connecting with people. I don’t want to just announce what’s happening on stage. I want to understand the event, engage the crowd, highlight the people involved, and help create an experience people remember.
What I’m most proud of, though, isn’t a haircut, follower count, event, or stage I’ve been on. It’s seeing young people I’ve worked with become more confident in themselves. Watching somebody who once came around just wanting to learn how to cut hair eventually serve their own community means more to me than any personal recognition.
I think what sets me apart is that I don’t really separate my career from my purpose. Whether I’m cutting a paying client, giving a haircut on the street, mentoring a teenager, or holding a microphone in front of a crowd, I try to bring the same person into every room. I’m Chikágo. My story, where I come from, my experiences in the Marine Corps, my faith, and the community that has embraced me in North County all influence the way I approach my work. I’m still a student of the industry and have a lot more to accomplish, but I want whatever I build to create opportunities for people coming after me.
Any big plans?
My biggest plan for the future is to turn everything I’ve been building into something sustainable. Humanity Barbers started organically through service, and now I want to focus on creating more structure around it so the impact can continue to grow without losing what made it special in the first place. I want to continue creating opportunities for young barbers, expanding our community partnerships, and eventually have a space where mentorship, barbering, education, and service can all come together.
Personally, I’m also focused on continuing to grow behind the chair and within the barber industry. Hosting and MCing has taken me places I never expected, including stages across the country and internationally, and I want to continue expanding that side of my career. One of my goals is to use those opportunities to represent North County San Diego while also creating bridges for younger barbers who may not normally have access to those rooms.
I’m also at a point where I’m learning that bigger doesn’t always mean better. For a while, I felt like I constantly had to be doing more. Now I’m more interested in building the right foundation, surrounding myself with the right people, and making sure what I create can exist beyond just me.
Long term, I want Humanity Barbers to become something that young people can look back on and say it gave them an opportunity, a relationship, or even just a safe place during a time when they needed one. I’d love to see what started here in San Diego eventually reach other communities, including back home in Chicago. I don’t know exactly what that will look like yet, and I’m okay with that. I’m 25 years old, and I feel like I’m still at the beginning of what God has planned for me. My goal is to keep learning, keep serving, and be prepared when the next door opens.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/youngbarbersteve?stkn=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steve.jaimes.12?mibextid=wwXIfr&mibextid=wwXIfr
