“I’ve always had blonde hair, but there have been times when it’s had some pink or blue in it. I’ve put braids in it and tried other things.

“I’ve always enjoyed messing with hair. When we were kids, I would cut off the hair on my Barbies. My girlfriends and I would dye our hair using Kool-Aid. Sometimes we would lock ourselves in the bathroom and do our hair. We would spray on Sun In and put the blow dryer to it. Or we would go outside, and the sun would lighten it. We did all kinds of stuff.

“My goal was to have my own barbershop by the time I was 30. It didn’t happen until I was 34, but I made it. I just enjoy fixing somebody up and making them feel good about themselves. That makes me feel good, too.”

— Katy Vojacek

Related:

• Barbershop owners are living their dream
• It’s time for an episode of barbershop confessional
• After car accident, ‘I was my dad’s hands’

The post ‘I’ve always enjoyed messing with hair’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.

Related:

• Barbershop owners are living their dream
• After car accident, ‘I was my dad’s hands’
• ‘I’ve always enjoyed messing with hair’

The post It’s time for an episode of barbershop confessional appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“Katy texted me one day and said, ‘What do you think about opening up a barbershop?’ I had already started going down that road, investigating things and getting some help from Lee College’s Small Business Development Center. So I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’

“It took us about a year to put together our business plan. We worked really hard to get it just right. We figured that when we took it to the banks, they would like it. And they did. The numbers added up and everything. But we didn’t have any collateral. We had never run our own business. So everywhere we went turned us down. Nobody would give us a loan. A guy from the Small Business Administration helped us a lot. He helped us realize that we were not going to be able to get a loan. We were going to have to come up with the money ourselves.

“My grandpa had already offered a pretty good amount of money that he could help me out with. Then Katy’s dad helped us with the other half.

“I think they both saw our frustration. When my dad saw I was not stopping, that’s when he said he would help. I can’t tell you how happy that made me.

“Not just anybody hands you that kind of money and says, ‘Go for it.’ For my grandpa to do that for me, it was huge. It’s not easy to look at money from my grandpa. I mean this in the nicest way. But he’s the kind of person who will walk around in a new pair of shoes for an hour before he decides to spend money on them. He has what he has in life because he keeps his money close. He doesn’t let it go to just anyone. So for him to be so generous in helping me like that, to have that confidence in me, it’s something that I will never forget. It’s allowing us to live our dreams.”

— Roxann Ramirez and Katy Vojacek

Related:

• It’s time for an episode of barbershop confessional
• After car accident, ‘I was my dad’s hands’
• ‘I’ve always enjoyed messing with hair’

The post Barbershop owners are living their dream appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“One day I noticed this lump and figured it was a hernia. I had been at the driving range a lot, so I thought it might have been from practicing golf too much. I went to the doctor and he said, ‘That’s not a hernia. You need to go to the emergency room.’

“It turned out to be cancer. I had Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It was already in the fourth stage, so they gave me an experimental drug. I think only 22 people in the United States were getting it. It didn’t take but about five months, and it cured it all.

“The drug had a list of about 30 side effects, but I didn’t get any of them. I did itch a little bit on my back, but it was no big deal. That’s why I say I’m a pretty lucky guy.

“I never looked at the cancer as a death sentence or anything. I just went in there and thought, I’ll be out in no time.

“I’ve always tried to keep a positive outlook on life. But now when I read over all my old paperwork I think, man, I could have been gone. I must have some guardian angels up there. I’ve got another shot at life.”

— Johnny Reyes

(Note: Johnny Reyes passed away on June 17, 2022.)

The post After beating cancer, ‘I’ve got another shot at life’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.