When Alexa Thompson was in high school, she remembers driving her Chevy Camaro up to the gas station on Ohio and having an attendant come out and fill up her tank. Her father had a tab at the station, which made the stop even easier, she said.
“It was a full-service station,” she said. “I didn’t even have to get out of the car.”
Alexa now works in the same building, which is now Faith and Grace Salon, owned by Raysha Barnes. Last October, Alexa became the barber at the salon, offering haircuts for men and a vintage barbering experience — hot-towel shaves with a straight razor.
“I want to bring a modern twist to traditional barbering,” she said. “A couple of generations haven’t had the traditional experience.”
For Alexa, a 1993 graduate of Clinton High School, barbering is a career change. A registered nurse, she worked at Golden Valley Memorial Hospital in bedside nursing and clinical analysis, but after 27 years, was ready to retire, she said.
Cutting her sons’ hair since they were toddlers — they are now 14 and 9 — kindled her interest in barbering.
“So I sold my truck and away I went,” she said.
From the proceeds, she was able to cover her family’s living costs and tuition for Old Town Barber College in Kansas City, She started in July of 2021, commuting every day to the barber college, which is near Arrowhead Stadium.
At first she was the only female student, she said.
Barbering is a good trade, she said, one she thinks more people ought to consider. The course is not easy, and took nine months to complete. It requires classes in anatomy and physiology, she said. She had to pass a written exam and a practical one, demonstrating four different styles of haircuts on manikins, as it was during the pandemic. After she gave the haircuts, the clippings were picked up and measured to be sure she had taken off the correct length, she said.
“It was more stressful than passing my nursing board by far,” Alexa said.
She then received a temporary license, working for a designated time under supervision at Blackwater Barber Shop in Warrensburg. When she heard that Raysha had space available at the salon on East Ohio, she applied and was accepted, and became “Alexa the Barber” in October.
Now Raysha styles and does haircuts on one side of the salon while Alexa cuts hair, trims beards and shaves customers on the other. She is usually booked, but walk-ins are welcome, she said. Faith and Grace Salon, at 801 E. Ohio, shares the building with Faith and Grace Nutrition, so customers can go through a connecting door to wait, Raysha said.
Like the gas station that once occupied the space, Faith and Grace is full service, Raysha said, or will be when she finds a nail technician.
“We’re looking for one, she said.
Alexa said another factor in her decision to become a barber was the fact that there were once six barbers in town, but now are only two — Kent and Jim at Barbery Center on Franklin. The current generation of men are accustomed to getting their hair cut at a salon, she said.
“I’m still taking care of people, I’m just taking care of them in a different way,” she said.
When she was asked to give an 89-year-old man a hot-towel shave with a straight razor, her nursing skills clicked in, Alexa said. She checked his skin turgor, or elasticity, and asked about any other health concerns that he might have. The man’s daughter had given him the salon treatment as a Christmas gift.
“It was his very first straight-razor shave,” she said. “He loved it.”
Alexa said she was expecting her customers to be older men, who would come in and talk about farming and fishing. Instead, many of her customers are pre-teen and teenage boys, she said. She once had seven 10-year-old boys in the shop at one time, she said, waiting for haircuts.
“Instead of fishing and farming, they were talking about girls and football, and horsing around,” she said. “It was a little stressful, but a good time.”
The most popular cut among school-age customers is the crop top, she said, which is longer on top and short on the sides.
Alexa also does beard trims and facial massages, and offers “It’s a Good Day” and “Best Day Ever” packages. The hot-towel treatment is relaxing, and heat opens up the hair follicles.
“I have a lot of people who are loving the shave,” she said.
Alexa said she wanted to provide something the community needed, adding that options for traditional barbering in Clinton declined when Don Fisher closed Idea Barber. Alexa’s mother, Cheryl Craig, is co-owner of White Flower Quilt Shop, which expanded into the space, she said.
Alexa’s sister, Andi Schmidt, owns Silhouettes by Andrea, a lingerie and clothing boutique on the Square.
Her father, Phil Craig, used to run the ADM grain elevator in Clinton, Alexa said, but now is a cattle rancher. He made the horseshoe coat rack for the salon. The sign on the wall behind her barber chair, with the inscription, “Once upon a time there was a girl who wanted to open a barber shop,” was a present from her mother when Alexa graduated from barber college.
“There is no way I could have pursued this dream without the support of my family,” Alexa said.
The women in her family were traditionally nurses or teachers, Alexa said. Her mother, Cheryl Craig, was a special-needs teacher at Lakeside Schools, and the founder and executive director for 30 years of Share and Care for people with special needs. Her mother also served on regional and state committees that worked to provide people with special needs with opportunities for independent living, Alexa said.
It was while Alexa was working at the Share and Care agency, which was located at that time in the basement of the Lutheran church, that she remembers stopping for gas at the station on Ohio in her Camaro. She had a client from the agency in her car, she said, and remembers how helpful the attendant was, and how kind he was to her passenger.
Alexa bought her vintage barber chair, a 1962 Presidential Koken, from the widow of a barber in Springfield, Mo. She cherishes it, and was upset when part of the metal foot support broke, but is grateful to welder Sean Custer for fixing it.
When Raysha said they should name the chair, Alexa said that “Truman” is too obvious a choice. Koken Barber’s Supply Company, located in St. Louis, was a premier name in the manufacture of reclining barber chairs until the 1970s, when longer hairstyles for men became popular, severely crippling the barbershop-related industry in America.
The building on Ohio housing the salon still has the round white pillars out front, but on the window next to the door is the red, white and blue striped barber pole, symbol of the barber’s former role as a medical practitioner.
For an appointment with Alexa the Barber, call 660-525-0697 or go to the Alexa The Barber Facebook.
