Cornell’s best barber is a senior called Nic Earley

Coming to Cornell in the fall of 2016, one of my biggest worries was finding a barber that would be able to give me a great haircut. I have a great relationship with my barber back home, and I knew finding a new barber would be a trek. A few weeks into the semester, my hair had become unkempt and desperately needed to be cut. I tried to ask around, but no one seemed to know a great barber.

Thankfully, everything changed in one afternoon. I was playing basketball with my friend Joey at Helen Newman and on the walk home, I noticed that he had just gotten lined up. The haircut looked great, so I decided to ask him where he got it cut, and he referred me to his club basketball teammate, Nic Earley.

Evidence that Nic can do a good haircut

Nic is a senior and a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, and Joey told me that he was cutting hair on the first floor of the Alpha Phi Alpha house for only $10. There was clearly some risk involved with getting an anonymous haircut, but for only $10, there was no way I could turn down the opportunity. I scheduled my appointment with Nic, and when I arrived at the Alpha Phi Alpha house, I was a bit surprised. The house didn’t look like a typical frat house; it was just a duplex in a residential neighborhood a few blocks away from North Campus. I rang the doorbell and no one answered, but the door was unlocked, so I opened it up and peered inside.

Additional proof

“Nic?” I asked softly, hoping that I was in the right place. I didn’t hear a response. “Nic?” I was a bit louder this time.

“Nic’s not here yet!” a voice upstairs yelled. “You can come in and wait if you want!”

“Thanks!” I yelled up to the voice. I stepped inside and saw a makeshift barbershop on the first floor. A desk chair was sitting next to a mirror, and an array of razors and scissors were placed on a table next to the chair. I sat down and a few minutes later, Nic came in.

“Evan?” he asked. I nodded in response. “Nice to meet you. So what kind of cut do you want?”

“Leave the top long but taper the sides,” I replied.

“Sounds good,” Nic replied.

As Nic started on my hair, we began the normal college conversation about each other’s majors and hometowns. Throughout the haircut, Nic gave me a lot of useful information about Cornell, both academically and socially, and his thoughts on aspects of school I had barely considered, like graduate school. By the time I finished the haircut, I had learned a lot about Cornell, and when I looked in the mirror, the cut looked great. I now go to Nic whenever I need a haircut at school, I go straight to him. I honestly have no idea what I’m going to do when he graduates.

If you’d like to book Nic, email him here.