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NOW ALSO LIVE AT THE BSL ANNIVERSARY IN THE NETHERLANDS! SOMETIMES THE UNIVERSE JUST NEEDS TO GIVE YOU A LITTLE PUSH BARBERSOCIETY LIVE EXCEEDED ALL MY EXPECTATIONS

BARBERSOCIETY MAGAZINE

IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE RONALDO SAT IN MY CHAIR

SPRING 2026 | #27 | € 20

TEN YEARS OF BARBERSOCIETY

Where stars are born TEN YEARS OF BARBERSOCIET Y Text: Yehor Mirnov

Ten years ago, they had a vision. A vision that 250 people would walk into.

At the time, the outlook wasn’t exactly promising.

In 2016, Marc van de Hare and Miranda Vlas, owners of BarberSociety, stood at the entrance of the Machinegebouw in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, watching visitors walk in. Quietly, they asked themselves: “Can we actually pull this off? What if it fails?”

Everyone said print media was “practically dead.” Organizing events exclusively for barbers seemed even riskier. The industry was fragmented. And almost nobody saw the Netherlands as a barbering powerhouse like the United States or the United Kingdom. But Marc and Miranda were dreamers. They imagined a place where barbers could meet, learn from one another, and celebrate their craft together. Like a family connected by a shared passion. It started as an experiment: would barbers be interested enough to show up? Could this dream survive longer than a single year? Ten years later, on April 12, 2026, BarberSociety Live is expected to have more than 1,000 professionals from over 20 countries. The event has grown into the leading barber event in the Benelux, a platform that has shaped careers, launched stars, and survived crises that others could not. This is the story of how it all began. It started with a Facebook group.

Photography: ©Maaike van Esch, Arjen Veldt, Tim ten Velden, Shoot Nine, Darren, Celso de Sanders, Patrick Blom, Michael Joseph, Juliette de Groot, José Donatz

2016

The Experiment Marc started a private Facebook community called BarberSociety, a place where barbers shared tips, asked questions, and helped each other. It turned out to be a hit. But Marc wanted more.

“Online contact is great,” he said. “But meeting in real life, sharing experiences, having a beer together, that’s where real connection happens.” He envisioned a meeting place with shows, product presentations, and seminars entirely focused on the barbering craft, something that simply didn’t exist yet. The first event was a test. Would barbers invest in themselves? Would they believe in a shared platform? They did.

Queues formed at the entrance. Conversations went on for hours. Phone numbers were exchanged. People stayed longer than expected. “That’s when we knew something special had started,” Miranda recalls. “It wasn’t just an event. It was a community finally meeting each other in person.”

The spark had caught, and from that moment on, everything changed. “Some of the people who believed in this barber event from day one are still part of our story,” Miranda says. “Chris Foster became the voice of BarberSociety Live. Ron van der Bend the voice of the Battle floor. Creatives like Alan Findlay and Barber Birdman helped shape our shows. Nero de Boer, Ronald de Bont and Dennis Kil grew into regular and respected battle judges. And Joost Mulleman, who gave a seminar in 2016, now stands on the main stage. Perhaps the most beautiful full-circle moment: Robert-Jan Rietveld, better known as ‘Bertus’ from the famous Schorem barbershop, attended the event in 2016 as a visitor. Today, his show is one of the highlights of our anniversary edition.” 7

INTERV IEW

Cal Newsome: From a Photo in a Magazine to Ronaldo in the Chair The Bull & Co founder on building a brand, conquering social media, and why the moment you stop comparing yourself is when real growth begins. Text: Ben Copeland Cal Newsome remembers the exact moment everything changed. He was in his final year at university, studying English language, when he came across a picture in a men’s magazine. GQ or Men’s Health, he can’t quite recall which. But the image itself? That’s burned into his memory.

@cal_newsome @bullandco_

“I saw a picture of a male model with like a real high-end white skin fade with a slick back with a big beard, he had loads of tattoos and it was actually a shoot from a hairstylist called Kevin Luchmun,” Cal recalls. “From seeing that image, it just made me want to be part of the whole thing. It just gave me a fire in my belly to get involved in that.”

Eleven years later, that fire has built something remarkable. At 35, Cal is the owner of Bull & Co Barber Club in Shropshire, England, winner of the NHBF Top 100 Influencers,

and a celebrity barber who recently fulfilled a lifelong dream: cutting Cristiano Ronaldo’s hair. He’s returning to BarberSociety Live for their 10-year anniversary after first appearing on their stage in 2022, this time presenting the Wahl Frequency show alongside Dutch Barber Birdman. But the journey from that magazine moment to here wasn’t overnight success. It was seven-day weeks, self-taught skills, and learning to stop worrying about what everyone else was doing. Ten months to shop owner While still in his final year at university, Cal started volunteering at a traditional barbershop one day a week. “The barbershop was very much stylised in a traditional way, we wore braces and suit and tie,” he explains. “I really liked that whole thing.” He enrolled in a college course to get his NVQ qualifications alongside the volunteering, learning the basics from the shop owner. Then, just ten months after picking up clippers for the first time, Cal did something most people would consider insane: he opened his own shop. “At the time it was the biggest risk,” he admits. “But looking

back now, owning my own shop and building a team of likeminded people, it’s allowed me to take my career in exactly the way that I want it to go. I see some people that are stuck in shops where they’re dictated to by the owner and there’s no real movement for them to branch off. So for me, having my own space was really important.” The space was tiny. A little unit in his hometown, big enough for one chair and a small waiting area. Cal worked seven days a week on his own for the first year, doing 20 to 30 haircuts a day. “These young barbers that follow me on social media, they don’t know that it took years of hard work. They won’t see that. I think because of social media, everything seems more accessible than it actually is.” When he’d outgrown that first space, he moved to a bigger shop, where an apprentice had since joined him. Then another person joined. Then another. Now there’s a team of five at Bull & Co, which moved to its current location three and a half years ago. This space has a shop downstairs and something Cal’s particularly proud of upstairs: a content studio.

Building a social media presence The studio has white walls, professional lighting, and is practically soundproof. This is where Cal creates all his social media content, educational tutorials, reels, and voiceovers. Away from the distractions of the shop floor, he can focus purely on creating. His content has evolved significantly. “When I first started, I did a lot of educational type content as in tutorials. Now I’ve moved on to more lifestyle type stuff with a little bit of educational thrown in. As my following has grown, I’ve had a lot more people follow me because they’re interested in what I’m doing personally.” Self-haircuts do particularly well. So does content featuring footballers. But Cal tries to keep it organic, authentic to who he is rather than chasing trends. That authenticity paid off when he was named NHBF Top 100 Influencer. Unlike competitions he’d entered before, this one was judged purely on data from multiple platforms. “That was my biggest achievement competition-wise, because the hard work that

I don’t think people realize how much hard work goes into creating videos

I’d done and put in to my social media was recognised,” Cal says. “I don’t think people see the hard work that goes into creating videos and the time it takes to edit. To be recognised for it was a massive achievement.” The Ronaldo moment Every barber gets asked the question: if you could cut one person’s hair, who would it be? For Cal, since the day he started cutting hair, the answer was always the same. Cristiano Ronaldo. “It’s always been Ronaldo for me. So it’s strange that it ended up happening.” The story isn’t as random as it might seem. Cal had been cutting hair for Diogo Dalot, a Manchester United player, for about four years. Dalot and Ronaldo play together for Portugal and are close friends. Cal knew it was “almost like a matter of time” before he’d be in a scenario where Ronaldo was with Dalot and needed a haircut. What he didn’t know until after was that Ronaldo had specifically requested him. “I found out recently that he’d actually requested for me to go over to do it,” Cal reveals. “That was as surreal as the haircut itself.” The haircut? Ronaldo showed him a photo of his hair when it was shorter and said he wanted it buzzed. A skin fade on the sides. Exactly the type of short clipper cut Cal loves doing most. But here’s the interesting part about achieving a lifelong goal: “I’m the sort of person to achieve what I’ve set out to achieve and then move on to the next thing. So I don’t like to dwell on things too much. I never really wanted it to be career defining, even though I understand that it is. In a weird way, I don’t feel like it ever happened, which is strange.” 19

GEOFFREY KVOT

FOR BARBERSOCIETY

Hair: Geoffrey Kvot (FR) Photography: World Hairdressing Congress @geoffreykvot, @le_clangeoffrey

FRANCE

Hair: Alan Findlay (GB-SCT) Photography: World Hairdressing Congress @_alanfindlay_, @rebelrebel.uk

ALAN FINDLAY

SCOTLAND

FOR BARBERSOCIETY

Hair: Robert-Jan Rietveld (NL) Photography: Jelle Mollema Products: REUZEL @the_bloody_butcher

C O L U M N T H E B LO O DY B U TC H E R

Hey barbers, hairdressers, and all you other riff-raff…

@schorembarbier @the_bloody_butcher

Don’t miss Schorem live on stage at BarberSociety Live 2026, Sunday April 12!

I can hardly believe it myself. After all the nonsense I’ve rambled in past editions, I’ve been ASKED AGAIN to write a piece for your favorite cut, shave, and, of course, idle chatter magazine, BARBERSOCIETY. And listen up: this issue is extra special, because we’ve got something to celebrate: 10 YEARS OF BARBERSOCIETY LIVE and 15 YEARS OF SCHOREM HAARSNIJDER EN BARBIER! “What better way to honour that than on the BSL stage on April 12? Me and two of my colleagues, who actually know what they’re doing, will show you exactly what Schorem stood for, stands for, and will always fight for: our beautiful craft. We practice it in a shop, but not just any shop. Together with you, the readers, we’ve not only put that place, where we practice our profession with heart and

soul, back on the map. But for every customer from Amsterdam to Rotterdam, from Moscow to New York, it has once again become a bastion of tonsorial pleasure, THE BARBERSHOP!!! Fifteen years… 180 months, 780 weeks, 5,475 days… Crazy what can happen in that time. On February 6, 2011, we opened the doors to what would become the most famous barbershop in the Milky Way…and beyond. But to be honest, in the start, we were the last ones who actually believed it would work, as I wrote in a previous column, no one came in. We’d sit there, drunk, feeling sorry for ourselves in our empty antique store…

work, and talent alone aren’t enough.” Sometimes the universe has to give you a little push. We often hear, “You guys were really lucky,” and I’m always the first to agree, but you have to give luck a helping hand and, more importantly, you have to recognize those moments of luck!!! I truly believe lots of people miss opportunities because they stare at the end goal and never see what’s happening around them… Luck comes in many forms. It reaches out to you in different ways, hides where you least expect it, or just lies there on the street waiting to be picked up… Provided you look down, of course.

Had we really gotten it THAT wrong? Were men really not looking for a place to be “men” again…? I don’t like to bring bad news, but here it goes: “Sometimes a good idea, hard

We were certainly lucky too… A famous footballer running across the pitch with a “SCHOREM” haircut… A TV show on shaving where I got to say the legendary words, “Applying 47

@dandieshilvarenbeek

A L L-I N T H E FA M I LY

Four generations, one passion 90 years of De Kok and Patrick’s story 80

1936. A barbershop in Tilburg, in the south of the Netherlands. One man alone in his shop. Regular shaving clients with their own drawer for their razor. Ninety years later, Patrick de Kok (57) stands in an intimate barbershop in Hilvarenbeek, close to Tilburg. One chair. One-on-one attention. The same love for the barber craft. And now his sons are also holding scissors in their hands.

What began with grandfather Noud grew into four generations of barbers. But this is not just a nostalgic story. It’s about precision. About learning under sharp eyes. About making hairpieces for the ‘Efteling’ theme park. About cutting hair in the morning and opening for KISS in the evening. And about deliberately becoming smaller again to reconnect with the craft.

Patrick and Max in Dandies

His roots “My grandfather started alone. Later he hired an assistant. He had many regular shaving clients. They had their own little drawer with their shaving tools. A real traditional barber story from the old days.” Patrick knew his grandfather mainly as ‘grandpa’, not as a barber. “He passed away quite young. I actually didn’t know much about him as a barber. Only when I started my own shop did I begin looking back. What was left of his story? Luckily there were still old photos and stories.” One thing he knows for sure now: “It’s in the genes.”

Training under watchful eyes At the age of twelve, Patrick was already sweeping up hair in the salon. “I did it voluntarily. I loved being there.” His father Peter became his mentor. “On the one hand, that was great and it brought me to a certain level.” But his father was critical. “If I thought something was sharp, he would say, ‘It could be sharper.’ He always saw something.” Patrick took that precision with him. “Tight contours. No lines at the bottom of the neck. Real craftsmanship.”

He always saw something. That shaped me

But working with your father often means differences in approach. “He was always ‘on’. If people were waiting, you had to keep going. And sometimes I just needed a sandwich first. Those were moments when I thought, ‘I see this a little differently.’” What stayed with Patrick the most was his father’s calmness. “He was very relaxed in his work. That gave the customer peace. I’ve always carried that energy with me.” Playful times The shop was also a place of humor. “When it was warm, my father would put the chair on the sidewalk. Just cutting hair in front of the door.” And then there’s the story of Henny Vrienten, singer of one of the most famous Dutch bands at the time. “Henny lived across the street from us. When young girls stood outside his house, my father would grab a lock of hair and say, ‘This belonged to Henny.’ Those girls would go crazy. And it was just a random piece of hair. We had the biggest laughs. Haha!” It’s exactly those kinds of stories that stick with you. 81

From “You can’t do it” to being her own boss

@theunderdogbarbershopdelft Photography: @jellyinmyear

INTERV IEW

Some dreams quietly simmer. Others keep nagging at you. For Naomi Tol (29) it wasn’t a carefully mapped-out plan or detailed strategy. It was a feeling. A point when she knew: now it’s the time. After ten years in the craft, with a past full of doubt, growth and perseverance, she said one day: “Fuck it, I’m going for it.” A month later she held the keys to her own corner building in Delft, the Netherlands. The Underdog Barbershop was no longer a dream. It was her reality.

A painful beginning Her start in the profession was anything but promising. She calls her first job at a barbershop in Rotterdam “the worst time.” She was nineteen, young, and insecure. Her boss certainly didn’t think much of her. “My boss always said, ‘You can’t do it, and you won’t succeed.’ At some point, it was enough. When I resigned, I said, ‘I’m quitting barbering.’” The decision lasted four months. But she missed working as a barber. The cutting, the conversations, the energy. She reconsidered her decision and ended up at Bobby Bones in The Hague. There, she started again from scratch. She observed, learned, and

developed. When Bobby posted her work on social media and other barbers responded positively, she thought: “Maybe I’m actually better than I think.” Looking back, she sees her difficult start differently. “Honestly, I should have packed my things at that first shop immediately. But it also taught me a lot.” Like what? “That I have to be strong. Just trust my gut feeling. Choose for myself.” No Factory Work For Naomi, barbering isn’t factory work. “The haircut doesn’t even have to be perfect every time. As long as you give someone the feeling that they’re not just a number.” She seeks genuine conversations. “Not: ‘How’s the

weather outside?’ but: ‘How are you really doing?’” She wants to genuinely get to know the person in her chair. At the same time, she acknowledges a side of the profession that’s rarely discussed. “If something happens in my personal life and I have to show up at work and pretend nothing’s wrong, that everything’s fine, I find that really hard.” Those days she feels empty. “At home I just put on a movie and don’t talk for a while.” The moment everything turned upside down She’d been working as a freelancer for eight years, and at a certain point, it started to bother her. “I increasingly 89