The SF Barber That Welcomes All Trans People Into His Shop

“Oh my God — look at this cut!”

As soon as he opened his eyes and saw his reflection in the barbershop mirror in front of him, Angel Filimoehala couldn’t help declaring his happiness with the finished result.

Turning his head to see his new haircut from different angles, Filimoehala’s grin only kept growing. “I look good,” he said. “I feel good!”

Standing behind him in the Steel & Strand Barbershop in San Francisco’s Mission District was Santana Vasquez — a barber known professionally as Twinkie or Twinks 415 who’s been cutting Filimoehala’s hair for several years.

“I feel like a haircut affirms exactly how I want to look,” Filimoehala said. “As a queer person, it is kind of intimidating stepping into spaces like a barbershop. But with Santana, I know I’m good.”

• Jump to: Tips for finding gender-affirming haircuts and grooming

Finishing Filimoehala’s hair with a spray of coconut oil, Vasquez gently brushed the remaining hair from his shoulders. “A lot of my clients, I feel like they’re my family, to be honest,” Vasquez said. “They sit in my chair, and we talk about what’s going on with them in their day-to-day. I’m not going to stay quiet through the whole haircut.”

For Vasquez, his barber chair is a safe space for queer people — especially for transgender men like him, who’ve felt anxious or uncomfortable getting their haircut at other barbershops. Earlier in March, he published a flyer on his Instagram page offering free haircuts all month long to trans men. Within a week, the post had already been shared hundreds of times, with dozens of people commenting messages of support.

“I wanted to open this up for younger trans men that are facing homelessness, that are in the shelter, that don’t have the resources to be able to afford a haircut in San Francisco because prices are super high,” he said, adding that since he published the flyer, people from all over the country — and even abroad — have reached out.

“I honestly did not expect the flyer to reach so many people,” he admitted.

‘Kind of like community work’

For Vasquez, who grew up in the Mission District, it wasn’t always easy to find a place he felt good getting a haircut himself. Beauty salons often weren’t the best option for finding the styles he wanted. Meanwhile, barber shops were usually spaces taken up by cisgender Latino men.

“Damn, you feel like Tupac — ‘all eyes on me,’” he laughed. “It’s scary to walk in such a male-dominated area … you feel that testosterone walking in and everybody’s looking at you, sizing you up.”

Also, “they might misgender you,” Vasquez said. “They probably don’t know what [wording] to use.”

As a teen, Vasquez would occasionally cut family members’ hair, but it was after he lost a close friend in 2017 that he decided to formally train as a barber. He wanted to become what he never saw growing up: a trans barber of color serving other trans people of color.

“This is your appearance — this is what will make you feel comfortable in your body,” he said. “This haircut can be a haircut for a job interview that you’re trying to get … It can be what helps you get out of the shelter if you’re experiencing homelessness.”

Growing up, Vasquez was heavily involved in youth intervention programs like Mission Girls and Precita Valley Community Center. “Doing a lot of community work and coming from the juvenile system helped me shift and form how I am now,” he explained. “I feel like cutting hair is still kind of like community work.”

‘Find each other and stick together’

By offering free haircuts, Vasquez has met dozens of transgender men living all over the Bay Area and other parts of California. They’ve shared their personal situations and asked to hear about his own experience transitioning. From his barber chair, he’s been able to form a network of support, where he connects transgender men seeking friends and community with each other.

Filimoehala is one of these men. “For a really long time, especially with my own transition, I felt really alone,” he said. As someone of mixed Pacific Islander and Latino descent, he said he’s always found it rare to meet another trans person who shared his background and traditions. But he’s met several people through Vasquez, which prompted him to form the Pasifika Trans Men Network, a group for trans masc and trans men in the Pacific Islander community.

“There’s a big need for us to find each other and stick together because we don’t really know what the next steps are in terms of what the federal government is going to do,” he said.

In the past few months, President Donald Trump’s administration has targeted the needs and rights of transgender and nonbinary people nationwide. On his first day back in the White House, Trump signed an executive order that declares the federal government will only “recognize two sexes, male and female,” and has threatened to cut funding for universities and hospitals that provide gender affirming care to trans minors. The Department of Education has also launched investigations into universities that allow transgender athletes to compete with the team that matches their gender identity — including San José State University in the Bay Area.

“They’re trying really hard to erase us,” Filimoehala said. “To me, that’s crazy because I feel there’s more problems in our country than us being trans.”

Meanwhile, Vasquez is still getting messages from folks looking for a free haircut. While he also has to make time for paying customers, he’s now looking at ways he can further extend his services for free in the future. “Money can’t buy community. Money can’t buy real connections with your people,” he said.

“This is about getting to know other black and brown trans men and building community in my chair.”

Tips from Vasquez on finding gender-affirming haircuts and grooming

Do some research…

Before going to a barbershop, Vasquez recommended you spend some time on social media looking for the haircut style you want to go for. It’s helpful to know different terms like a fade or taper haircut, he said, but also …

Don’t be afraid to lean on your barber, too

“If you go to a barber and are upfront about what you want, but you don’t know how to describe it … your barber will understand and probably think: ‘Let me give them grace, because at least they’re coming in and they’re trying,’” Vasquez said.

Be upfront about what you want to keep (or lose)

“When you’re first growing out your beard, it comes out like peach fuzz,” said Vasquez. “Tell your barber or hairdresser, ‘Hey, I’m trying to keep this on the side. Please don’t cut it off.’”

“Be upfront because, as barbers, we don’t know if you’re letting it grow out because it’s been a long time since you got a haircut,” he said.