The barbers at the simply named The Neighborhood Barbershop in Falls Church are, according to owner Dustin Foley, a ragtag bunch.
“We’ve got people from all walks of life. A couple of the guys were tattoo artists in the past, plus mechanics, bartenders … riff-raff,” he jokes.
Foley opened the shop in 2016 as a way to create community when he moved here from California. “The barbershop over the last couple of centuries hasn’t changed much,” he says. “It’s a place to gather, share ideas, talk, build community—and that’s what we’re trying to capture.”
The two-year-old barbershop is not only building that proverbial community, but also giving back to it. In November, Foley and his crew hosted a 25-hour cut-a-thon to raise money for New Hope Housing, which runs several homeless shelters in Northern Virginia.
Held on the weekend when daylight saving ended to take advantage of that extra hour, the cut-a-thon raised more than $12,000 as dozens of supporters had their hair cut and beards trimmed in the name of a good cause.
The fundraiser was an extension of the twice-monthly hair cutting sessions the guys were already doing on-site at New Hope Housing at the behest of one of the shop’s barbers, lovingly nicknamed Spud.
So what happens when you commit to cutting hair around the clock? “To be honest, it was busy all night, so we didn’t really have time to think about how sore are feet were,” recalls Foley. “But I know, personally, I slept for two days after.” // The Neighborhood Barbershop: 417 W. Broad St., Suite 103, Falls Church
