Ontario barber is now accepting food as payment in exchange for haircuts
Food is now an acceptable form of payment for haircuts at an Ontario barber shop, as people are getting more desperate to pay for essential services and some have even turned to bartering.
Around this time of year in 2020, people were fearful about when their next haircut would be, and now in 2023, people are more worried about how they're going to pay for it.
Rosso Barber-o Shop in Woodstock, Ingersoll and Stratford has been coming up with innovative solutions for this problem, and letting people barter food for cuts is their most recent.
About a week ago, someone called up the Stratford shop to ask about pricing, and owner Rosso Villamil felt like having a little fun. He initially offered the customer the option to pay what he could for the cut, or even get it for free.
When the person asked how much would be acceptable to pay, Villamil said he was "feeling adventurous" and that he could even pay with potatoes and beef or whatever he wanted. He ended up paying for the cut with the potatoes and beef later that day.
Rosso Barber-o Shop first opened in Woodstock on July 2, 2020, and has been contributing good deeds to the local community ever since.
It all started when someone came to the shop for a haircut for a job interview but couldn't afford to pay for it. Villamil gave him a free cut and he ended up getting the job (the cut being a possible contribution). The generosity only continued from there.
He offered free haircuts to those in need for Christmas 2020, and again for his birthday in July 2022. For the opening of the new shop in Stratford, he offered free or pay-what-you-can haircuts.
"One of his customers that day was Justin Newhook, who couldn't believe his ears when Rosso offered him the promotion to pay whatever he wanted," Leonardo Villamil, Rosso's son who is also a barber, tells blogTO.
"Justin brought in a bag of potatoes and beef, and after posting the story on social media, people started offering tacos, and even a shepherd's pie in exchange for a haircut and beard trim."
They're planning to continue the giving momentum at Rosso Barber-o Shop by offering their services one day a month in exchange for food to donate to the community of Stratford and surrounding areas.
In the meantime, if you're in the Woodstock, Ingersoll or Stratford areas, have a bag of potatoes lying around you don't really want and need a fresh cut, you might just be in luck.
Rosso Barber-o Shop
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