VANCOUVER, B.C. — Although the sign in his shop window says hair studio, Tony Le says he’s often mistaken for being a hat seller. “They come in here and it’s like, ‘Oh! I like that one. How much that one?’” Tony says, gesturing to the dozens of hats hanging on every wall of his barber shop. “And I say, ‘No. It not for sale.’” Because every one of the hats is priceless. “Many, many story from the loyal customer,” Tony smiles. While all the stories are different, they all begin the same — with a stranger walking off the street feeling self-conscious about their hair. “They feel they need to hide behind their hat,” Tony says. But if they feel more confident after their cut, Tony invites them to retire their hat on the wall. “I make them (sign) their signature,” Tony says, and flips over the hats to show names written in each one. “And the date.” The date they stopped being strangers and started becoming friends. “They client,” Tony smiles. “But they not client anymore.” Tony says he has about a hundred other hats in storage that get rotated on the walls, except for the one that never gets moved. “I’m always grateful for that hat,” Tony says, pointing to a blue baseball hat. Tony says it belonged to the man who first taught him how to speak English when he moved here from Vietnam. More than 25 years later, the teacher—who now uses a wheelchair—travels across a couple municipalities by transit, so Tony can still cut his hair. “He’s 80 now,” Tony smiles. “He still comes to see me.” Because each hat contains countless happy memories like this, Tony has promised to never sell them. “Unless they are getting famous, they now a celebrity,” Tony laughs. “(Then) I’m allowed to auction and get rich on that!” If that happens, Tony will accelerate his retirement plans, which includes packing up his barbering tools in a bag to go travelling. “I want to see the world and see the people,” Tony says. “And give the haircut for free. Completely free.” Because he says — after pointing to a red MAGA hat on the wall, that has the word America covered by piece of paper with a hand-written note that says “Ur Hair” — you can’t put a price on how it feels to make your hair great again. “I make them look good,” Tony smiles. “And feel good!”
