'I don't see color'

MILTON — With a diverse customer base, the Man Cave Grooming Company is different from the barber shops owner Oliver Sledge knew in his youth.

Growing up in Fairhope, Ala., Sledge knew certain shops only cut certain hair.

“That was the way I grew up. That shop would only deal with 'white' hair,” he said.

White hair and black hair are different, Sledge said. “(A white person’s hair) you have to angle right and cut it in certain places to get the right angle. A black man’s hair, you have to mold it,” he said.

Dennis Garrett has worked with him since the Man Cave opened on Jan. 13, 2016 at 5176 Stewart St. in Milton, Sledge said. When the Man Cave opened, Garrett said, he had to prove himself to black customers.

“I think it’s because, traditionally, black guys went to black barber shops. People are starting to be more mainstream and everybody is doing everybody’s hair,” Garrett said.

However, locally, accepting that fact took some time. 

Because of the differences between the hair textures of different races, black customers didn’t immediately trust that Garrett knew what he was doing, he said.

What a difference a year makes.

“He has as many black customers as me now,” Sledge said, adding he's glad to see the stereotype fade.

“I don’t see color. Half my family is Caucasian. I’m the last to see any color,” Sledge said.

Sledge credits getting into the business to his children Devin Sledge and Mackenzie Black.

“That’s what this is about. I wouldn’t be doing it if not for them.”

The Man Cave is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: 'I don't see color'