Last October senior Brian Vo was ready to try a buzz cut hairstyle for the first time, and he knew where to go. His friend, fellow senior Jesse Yung, had started cutting people’s hair a month earlier and was getting better. Vo put his head in his Yung’s hands.

Being the first to buzz Vo’s hair became Yung’s most memorable moment. Yung learned on his own how to cut hair, mostly from watching YouTube videos, and has been trimming to friends’ hair for the past year.

“I started with other people’s hair cutting tools until I bought my own clippers on Amazon. I started with scissors because I noticed that’s what the barbers used,” Yung said. “I practiced on myself first until it looked decent, and after giving myself three or four successful haircuts, I gave them to my friends.”

Yung took up cutting his hair for fun, but never knew he would go anywhere with it.

“I just wanted to try it. I like it because it gives me practice to do my own hair and lets me try different styles,” Yung said. “I definitely expected it to be easier, though.”

The first person to receive a haircut from Yung was his friend, senior Alex Wei. Since the two have similar hair styles, Yung could manage to style Wei’s hair just the way Wei wanted it done. After that he started cutting his other friends’ hair.

“I think Jesse’s haircuts are very fashionable because he cuts them exactly how I want it,” senior Clarence Le said. “He cuts hair because he thinks it’s fun.”

Whenever a friend needs to get a cut or trim, they notify Yung, who shortly afterwards makes his way to the person’s house.

“We don’t have to pay because as customers we provide the location and he provides the service,” Le said. “He comes over every two weeks to cut my hair, but since other people have buzzes, they get it cut more often to keep it maintained.”

With practice comes mistakes. He has messed up on hair cuts on more than one occasion but he says that he has learned how to hide it from his clients.

“I don’t think Jesse’s ever messed up on a haircut; however, we all like to mess with people’s hair before he buzzes it. No one minds because we’re all close friends,” Le said. “For example, we gave [senior] Darren Sun a gentleman’s haircut before Jesse buzzed it. Sometimes, we even leave patches on people’s heads, but Jesse always fixes it.”

Cutting hair has become a enjoyable hobby for Yung.

“My advice to people who want to start cutting hair is to be ready for failure and to be ready to call it something else if it doesn’t work out,” Yung said. “The best way is to just start with a pair of scissors and go from there.”