Switching Barbers to Switch’n Styles and Loving It!

Maybe four years ago I decided to switch barbers after being a loyal customer at a place for about 15 years. For most men, switching barbers is a big thing. You just can’t trust anyone cutting your hair plus you have to have a great rapport with your barber too. So off I went to find the Barber Shop I could call home.

The Search

First off, since I’m way older now and bald on top I’m not as vain as I used to be when I had a full head of hair. Cutting my hair is a breeze, in my eyes, but I do like to keep hair on the sides. I don’t like the whole bald look. My perfect cut would be a zero (skin) to a two (some hair) and then skin again (I’m freaking bald). I call my hair cut, a “fade to a fade” LOL.

Jonathan GiDi Ramirez and I.

I bounced around to different barbers in Coral Springs, Fl. but nothing felt right. One night I’m picking up food at Pasquales Pizza off of Royal Palm and I see this barber shop pretty close by. The name is Switch’n Styles and there were about 6 barbers working at like 6:30pm…I thought most shops close at 5:00pm. Well, this isn’t a regular shop that I grew up with. Now, I have to set the picture for y’all to explain what I’m thinking (as a half white / half Samoan but look like a really white guy)..I’m gonna keep this real and not be a fake or a fraud. There was not one white skinned person in this shop…not the customers or the barbers. As a young boy in Oakland Park in the 70s, I grew up going to all white barbers. It was a traditional shop with the pole and you got a lollipop after you got your haircut. There were no fades and my mom would order me a regular boys haircut that was about three inches or more of hair on the top and neatly trimmed on the sides. I never really felt comfortable going to these shops because I have curly hair…that’s the Samoan side. These barbers didn’t really know how to cut hair like mine. I didn’t know any different, so I’ve went to barbers like this my whole life.

Now, I don’t care what anyone says about how they can gel with all different types of races with no problem. Everyone, and I mean everyone, feels more comfortable with people when you look and talk like them. In my mind I’m thinking if I walk in here they may screw with me, talk $hit about me in a foreign language, ask me if I’m lost, or… just cut my hair. WTF, I decide to go inside and get a hair cut.

I go in and the person I meet is very friendly. He directs me to a barber in the back to the right because he was the only seat open. The barber’s name is  Jonathan “GiDi” Ramirez and he shakes my hand. He asks what style I wanted and he then gets to work. GiDi is Columbian and we just shoot the breeze as he cuts away. When he is done (which wasn’t long) I look in the mirror and he cut one of the best fades I’ve ever had! I was really impressed. I thanked him and left thinking I might have finally found my barber shop “home”.

I continue to go here, but as I found out, GiDi was an up and coming barber. He was going out of the country doing expos and his speciality is definitely not cutting old balding guys heads. He does the designs and complex fades. He never told me he wouldn’t cut my hair but I decided to bounce around to the other barbers. Every single one of them can cut some damn hair! For once in my life, I felt like I didn’t need to have the same barber all the damn time.

My main barber now…Mac.

Present Day

Switch’n Styles has two shops now, one by Pasquales and the other in Margate. When the one in Margate first opened, I decided to stop in and get my haircut. Low and behold, who do I see manning the #1 Barber position, which is the first seat to the left….GiDi . He is the manager of this location now. Of course he is all booked, so one of the other barbers cuts my hair and does an outstanding job. Lately, I’ve been getting my hair cut from the same guy, Mac….another great barber and I enjoy talking to him about his family. He is a good young man. Still, with that being said, if he isn’t around I get my haircut by anyone who has an open chair.

Interior photo of Margate location. Picture by GiDI

Ambiance

There is nothing fancy about these barber shops. Both are an open design concept with Margate’s location having a higher ceiling and a more industrial feel. All the barber’s work stations are converted mechanic tool benches …pretty interesting idea, if you ask me. Both places have a hip, urban feel…don’t expect to hear any Frank Sinatra, U2, punk, alternative or heavy metal coming from the sound system. If they have played that music, I’ve never heard it. It’s all hip hop, rap, and last time I was there they were playing Sade. Don’t let the music choices scare you away, though… and if hip hop and rap are your thing, then this place is for you.

Fresh cuts! Photo and cut by GiDi

Verdict

I’m glad I didn’t let my initial reservations about this place overpower me. Otherwise, I would have never walked thru the doors and met the good men and woman who work here. If you want an excellent haircut including one of the best Fades in South Florida this is THE shop for you. Four Beers easy! Remember to tell the barbers Dan I Cook sent you and… Stay Well Groomed!

Four beers = Outstanding
Three beers = Good
Two beers = OK
One beer = Needs work
Zero beers= Sucks (No beer is never a good thing.)

Switch’n Styles Barbershop – (954) 532-9416 · 7446 Royal Palm Blvd Margate, FL 33063.

Switch’n Styles Barbershop (954) 227-8953 · 10329 Royal Palm Blvd Coral
Springs, FL 33065.