Rock Hill barbers ‘rumble’ at Come-See-Me event

People getting their hair cut doesn’t sound like the most exciting thing to watch. But a crowd packed the hall at Rock Hill’s new American Legion building Sunday to watch some of the area’s most competitive and creative barbers show off their best work.

The annual “Rumble in the Jungle” combined style and showmanship with the process of getting a good hairdo. Many of the head-clippers who put their barber chairs onstage Sunday are multiple-time competitors who spent days planning and prepping to unveil their creations.

This was the 11th time the Rumble has been hosted by Rock Hill’s Shabazz Barber Styling College, but for the first time this year, the competition was held as part of the Come-See-Me Festival, instead of its usual timing as part of Black History Month.

“The last couple times, we held it at the Winthrop Student Center, but this is a bigger venue,” said Karen Shabazz, owner of the barber college, who organized the event at the new Legion hall on Heckle Boulevard. The event was complete with a silent auction and vendors and booths with everything from beauty products to barbecue to voter registration forms.

The Rumble is a chance for professional barbers to hone their skills in three categories: fade work, design and “fantasy,” where stylists get to let their imaginations run wild with color and presentation. Models wore costumes and heavy makeup to accentuate what takes shape on top of their heads.

Stylists had only 45 minutes once they got onstage to complete their work, with judges watching and taking notes, so preparation is important. Lawan Cummings-Neely, representing 3D’z Hair Salon, has entered creations in hair-styling competitions before, but never one where she had to finish her work onstage alongside other entrants. On Sunday, Cummings-Neely got started on Shaevonne Moore’s hair at 9:30 a.m. for the 5 p.m. event.

“I had to do molding and shampoo, hair placement and makeup,” she said, trimming Moore’s blue- and pink-tinted locks under a cap backstage. “This has been ongoing. I haven’t even had dinner.”

David Hemphill previously won the Rumble with a look he called the “Red Bull,” a style that held a can of the energy drink in place atop the model’s head. The stylist from Rock Hill’s Stylz of Envy hoped to take home first place again this year, taking the trophy and the $500 cash prize.

With less than two weeks’ notice that he would be in this year’s competition, Hemphill reflected on what’s needed to take the top spot.

“You’ve got to have motivation, drive and talent,” Hemphill said. “You’ve got to humble yourself. You have to put yourself on the same level as everybody else.”

Even the less elaborate entrants in the fade competition had to put on a show for the crowd. Alan King with Show N Tell It barber shop of Charlotte showed off his skills by cutting his own hair on stage, switching back and forth between a full-length body mirror and a hand mirror to check the details.

Sunday’s event attracted some former competitors back to the show. Cosmetologist Mona Lisa Raley with Hair Natural’e didn’t do any hair for this year’s show, but she did set up a table to show off some of her salon products.

“I do it all, from natural to relaxed back to natural,” Raley said. “I do transitions more than the ‘big chop.’”

None of Shabazz’s current students took part in the Rumble, but she hopes those that came took a close look at how it’s done.

“It’s something for the students to look forward to,” Shabazz said, “and hopefully next year they will be on the stage competing.”

This story was originally published April 19, 2015 at 10:38 PM with the headline "Rock Hill barbers ‘rumble’ at Come-See-Me event."