Baltimore Social Innovation Journal, Fall 2016 Fall 2016 | Page 6

Groomed
to Perfection
How a little white lie in high school led to a career and a life of serving others.
By Lisa Simeone

Robert Cradle was in trouble.
“It was looking really bad,” the 49-yearold says of his time in high school. A
guidance counselor met with him one day
and asked what he wanted to do with his
life.
“I want to cut hair,” Cradle blurted out.
“I was,” he now says, “lying through my
teeth.”
The guidance counselor followed up,
sending him a brochure about a barber
school on Pratt Street.
“I looked at it and thought, why not?”
he recalls. “I really fell backwards into this
career.”
It turns out Cradle had a knack for the
work and eventually went on to open his
own barbershop in Odenton. That was 16
years ago. The shop was only a few blocks
away from a homeless shelter, and Cradle
couldn’t help but notice how bedraggled
so many of the people there looked. So he
set up a collection box in his shop, asking
customers to drop in a few coins or dollars
pg. 5

to pay for haircuts for the homeless. Pretty
soon, the generosity of his customers added
up. Cradle sent a few of his barbers to the
shelter to offer their services. And before
you knew it, the idea took off.
Cradle has since set up seven fully
equipped barbershops and beauty salons
in the Maryland/DC area, not only bringing
grooming services to under served people,
but also teaching those people, in turn, how
to groom others.
“Personal grooming, if you take it out
of the equation,” says Cradle, “it changes
everything in your life. Of course food,
shelter, clothing are important. But they’re
not enough. This service is about access.
If you’re not well groomed, you don’t have
access – to places, to people, to jobs. Even
getting housing can be difficult if you don’t
look presentable.”
Cradle and the people he’s trained are
aware that they’re offering an intimate
service: “What we do is very specialized,
very personal. We get in your personal
space.”