SNELLVILLE, Ga. — A suburban Atlanta barber has attained international attention after his frustration over his son’s chronic unruly behavior prompted him to give his son an old man haircut.
When his son’s grades “skyrocketed” after the embarrassing hairdo, Russell Frederick began advertising the “Benjamin Button” type haircut — where you make a young boy look old by shaving off the top of the dome and leave hair on the back and sides — for any exasperated parent looking to punish their boys and make them behave.
Frederick, 34, the owner of A-1 Kutz, offers the cut — also called the “George Jefferson” look — for free for parents of kids who want to “act grown” after it worked on his 12-year-old son.
Frederick told the Washington Post that he came up with it after his son Rushawn’s grades began to fall last fall. After the cut — named for the 2008 Brad Pitt film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — he says Rushawn’s marks “skyrocketed dramatically.”
The father of three posted the photos of a customer on his A-1 Kutz Facebook page and shared with the Post his rationale for administering this very unusual brand of discipline: “So you wanna act grown… now you can look grown too,” the caption reads next to a picture of the unlucky Benjamin Button recipient that was posted last week.
Thus far, A-1 Kutz has only had one taker besides his own son: a single mom searching for another form of punishment after her 10-year-old son acted up at school.
“There are a few people that are saying it’s emotional abuse,” Frederick retorts to critics, including some psychologists. “But on average, everyone is applauding the mother that brought the child in — and applauding me as well.”
One person who applauded the tactic is father Willie Jefferson, who shaved his 11-year-old son’s head last fall. He told the Post that son has been well-behaved since the haircut.
“Shaming isn’t bad for children if it teaches respect,” Jefferson said. “It taught me respect, it taught my parents respect, it taught my grandparents and great grandparents respect, and that’s what I’m going to stick with.”
Frederick doesn’t recommend the punishment as a first option. He said when parents’ conventional discipline doesn’t work, then they can come in and try the “Benjamin Button” haircut and see how that works.
“I hope that most people won’t have to do this unless it’s an extreme circumstance and nothing else works,” Frederick said. “First, you talk or implement your restrictions. But when the conventional ways don’t work these days, you have to get creative.”
Photos: A-1 Kutz Instagram, Facebook
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