They call the man with the white goatee “Pop,” and about half of the customers at Port Wentworth’s new barbershop want him to cut their hair.
Handy with clippers and helpful with advice, the namesake of Simply Sidney’s Barbering Studio offers haircuts and life change.
“Where are all the mothers in the church?” Sidney Crippen asks aloud Saturday morning as barbershop workers give women long-stemmed carnations before Mother’s Day.
Crippen meant to say “barbershop,” instead of “church.”
But Crippen’s life message — “you can change” — sounds like the title of a sermon. And like been-there-done-that preachers, Crippen has personal stories of proof.
“God has changed my life,” he says.
But for minor style changes, he carries clippers.
“Wow!” That’s first-time customer Jonathan Atwater’s impression in seeing Simply Sidney’s sleek wood-trimmed shop.
ESPN’s Sports Center announcers talk from seven flat-screen TVs, and songs from Michael Jackson to the Temptations play in the background.
“This is something totally new,” Atwater says of the look.
It’s an old-fashioned kind of new.
Crippen’s wife, Mecca Luke, says they are taking it back to when barbers dressed to the nines. No sneakers, the barbers decided in unison at a meeting before the March grand opening.
“And off the bat, I said no jeans,” Luke says.
They wear shiny black shoes, black vests and bowties.
“We thought we needed to take it up to the next level,” says barber Matt Ivy, who believes you can’t overdress.
Even school-aged shop attendants dress sharply in bowties with matching attentiveness. A customer’s haircut cape hasn’t even settled after Crippen flings it off the man before Solomon Ivy, 11, brushes off the man’s back while Mason Bryant, 14, sweeps up his hair. And Crippen was ready when he got what he believes was a divine prompt.
The barber with 14 years of experience saved money by cutting his four sons’ hair at home and ultimately finding his calling.
“He said, ‘God is speaking to me. This is our new barbershop,’” says Luke, recalling her husband’s words after they ate at the Chinese restaurant next door. The parking lot was packed in front of the Food Lion off Highway 21 and vehicles wrapped around Zaxby’s on a weeknight.
Yet there was no barbershop.
“That’s what we’ve been hearing,” Luke says.
The couple lived on Jimmy DeLoach Parkway, but planned to move to Atlanta to be near their son, who attended Georgia State University.
But after eating at the Chinese restaurant that fateful Tuesday, the empty space next door was painted, outfitted with wood flooring and sleek wood barber stations “in 30 days,” Luke says.
“Welcome to Simply Sidney’s!” the barbers say to incoming customers.
Newbie Priscilla Todd responds with a smile and sits by the windowed wall as Luke writes down the names of her two boys, ages 6 and 9, who need haircuts. They, too, request Pop.
“This is the only barbershop that’s close here,” says the Port Wentworth woman. “Anything else, we have to drive all the way to Savannah.”
Atwater, now sporting a razor tape trim, used to fight traffic driving to Savannah from Port Wentworth for haircuts, too.
“This is unique,” he says.
And if he heard Crippen’s story, he’d say the same.
Pop slowly lowers his electric razor, removing hair under “the surgical tape line” on Olajiron Todd’s forehead.
“The crispy” is Crippen’s specialty, he says with a smile, referring to the precise “crisp” trim in the works on the 6-year-old.
The boy sits under a haircutting cape featuring one-eyed monsters while doubtless catching bits of Crippen’s story. The barber likes sharing his story to help keeps boys from doing what he did.
Crippen’s full nickname is “Poppa Crip.” It’s part of his last name, but also a tag from his past. The former Crips gang member sold drugs for 15 years and paid big: He served six stints in prison and was shot eight times.
“I had to make some changes in my life,” he says.
He grew up in Maryland to a hardworking family and had plenty of free time to get in trouble. But in prison, he grew uneasy seeing so many young men enter the system.
“It’s just like a light that came on that said, you know what, these kids need help,” Crippen says.
He credits mentors in the penal system who gave him what he now offers youth: Talk time, and mentorship. Local schools send Crippen students from in-school suspension. They meet at YMCAs or community centers, eating snacks and hearing Crippen’s advice. Lessons range from anger management, gang prevention, dressing for success — “not dragging and saggy” clothing, he says — and using Internet caution lest students’ ill-reputed photos haunt them as adults.
Next school year, he encourages students to drop violence and negativity and take up the art of barbering at his shop instead.
“We’re offering them another option,” he says. “See what you can create with your hands.”
A busy shop with grateful customers is what Crippen created. His other work offering hope and guidance for youth is harder to spot.
But with new internships for students this fall, the two parts meet.
Crippen is ready, his mantra polished: “When you make the right choices, then you get the right consequences.”
“He’s all about the kids,” Luke says.
“I don’t want some of these kids to go down some of the roads I went down,” Crippen says.
If You Go
What: Simply Sidney’s Barbering Studio
Where: 7306 Hwy. 21 #207, Port Wentworth
Phone: 912-335-1194
Hours: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday; 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday
Web: Simplysidneys.com