Ali Alhashemi is a licensed barber, educator, investor, and digital content creator. He also serves as the president of UpperCutz Barbershop, the CEO of The Groomed
Man, and the author of The Barber Al Story. His family are immigrants living in Dearborn, Michigan. Settling and growing up as immigrants was not easy for Ali. He lost his father and most of his relatives early in life, and his mother could barely afford to support her family.
After migrating to the US, Ali’s family lived in a small house on the outskirts of Detroit, and with little to nothing in his possession, he had to start working from a young age to support his mother. He endured the struggle and overcame them to become successful and make millions of dollars in yearly revenue. Ali also loves giving back to his community.
Ali’s journey to becoming a barber started when he was a teenager. He worked hard and saved enough money to buy a pair of scissors and rent a small space. Ali started on a sweltering summer afternoon and was so excited that he asked his friends if he could cut their hair. He gave them “sick cuts”, and they could not be happier to refer everyone to Ali. Within a short time, he gained recognition, especially among his fellow teens.
Ali was excited about his progress and motivated to join a cosmetology school to sharpen his skills. He continued to save as much as he could, and due to high demand, he upgraded to a bigger space and named the business, UpperCutz Barbershop. Ali is not your average barber. He inspired six other barbers and selected them to join and enhance the UpperCutz Barbershop approach: cutting hair creates a canvas of art. They created a great atmosphere for their clients and the experience is beyond an ordinary cut!
However, Ali was unhappy to see his clients return with unhealthy-looking hair due to using all types of hair products in between cuts. It inspired him to start hair styling, and that’s how The Groomed Man, a one-stop shop for healthy hair products was established.
Ali worked with formulation specialists, pharmacists, scientists, and people passionate about hair care products. The products are for daily use and suit all hair types. Anyone using these products loves them, and The Groomed Man is currently a household brand in Detroit. Ali is so happy to see his clients’ hair looking healthy each time they come for haircuts, and their haircuts last more than a month. He also owns and operates several other businesses and spends 50% of his total revenue helping the poor in his community.
Ali shares that as an entrepreneur, you should take every mistake as a blessing, and learn from your failures. He aims to open a chain of barbershops and extend his compassion to a larger group of the poor community by starting a non-profit organization and giving free haircuts at one of his locations. Ali also hopes to open a barber school to teach the craft of barbering by next year.
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