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A teenage barber from Bristol is fast becoming a TikTok and Instagram phenomenon, performing outside of schools and offering free haircuts.

Shaq’ille Fearon is just 16 and still in school, but he’s about to rack up half a million likes on TikTok for his videos showing what happens when he sets up his barber chair outside the school gates and take out the scissors.

Huge crowds of young people gather, so much so that the police were called on one occasion, because people feared something bad was going on, and at another school, a teacher even offered to sit on the chair and get a good cut.

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Going by the social media handle @barbershaq, the young barber is fast becoming a social media phenomenon in Bristol, and has already signed on as a rising star with a management contract.

During the day, he’s in Year 11 studying for his GCSEs, but after school and on Saturdays, the 16-year-old works shifts at St Pauls’ famous Supertonic barbershop on Ashley Road.

On his afternoons and nights off, he has been visiting various schools in Bristol, causing scenes as young pupils clamor to see his clipper skills.

“I started doing this because I don’t think anyone has done anything like this before,” Shaq’ille told Bristol Live. “I’ve seen some hairdressers making videos for Instagram and TikTok where they cut the hair of homeless people, and while that’s great, I haven’t seen anyone going to school at the end of the day and getting a haircut. there. It fits with what I’m trying to do: I’m only 16 and the people I’m trying to reach are also my age.”

So far, Shaq’ille has made it out of Fairfield School, Downend School and Bristol Met, and his ‘Pulling Up To UK Schools’ TikTok videos are receiving tens of thousands of views each time.

“I texted in the morning saying I’m going, and the word spread pretty quickly around the school, so when I get to the end of the day, there are a lot of kids waiting. I cut my hair for free, it’s a community thing, it’s just about spreading the message of who I am,” she explained.

In Downend, they called the police thinking there was a law and order incident, but were relieved to find it was just Shaq’ille with a pair of razors and a chair, but the interaction with the police provided something a little different for him. content of your video. .

Shaq’ille always wanted to be a barber and began cutting hair at the age of ten. “My first fit was my dad, and I went from there,” he said. Proud dad Jade Fearon remains Shaq’ille’s biggest fan and said he is in awe of his work ethic.

The first time he tried something a little different with a guerrilla hairdresser video, it was inside a McDonald’s, but he was unsurprisingly and unceremoniously kicked out of the restaurant. So instead he took to the streets and schools in and around Bristol.

It’s a very different prospect cutting hair in a hair salon, where there might be half a dozen people sitting in a queue who aren’t particularly interested in what you’re doing to another customer, compared to cutting hair with a crowd of hundreds of people. teenagers. looking.

“The first time I did it in a school, it was something else: I could definitely feel the pressure of having everyone around me, watching and filming,” Shaq’ille said.

“I was thinking, ‘oh wait, this is a bit stressful,’ but I have to stay focused and not get nervous, and it actually brings out the best in me to do a really good job. At Bristol Met, a teacher came in and wanted an adjustment, and that brought something else to the table in terms of pressure,” she laughed.

Shaq’ille is thinking of going to barbering college when he finishes school, hoping to develop his skills and take his already explosive social media presence nationally and internationally. “It’s good that it connects with people,” he said.

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