In October of 2021, Jill Southern officially opened the doors to Black Sheep Barbershop. Now, nearly four years and three additional locations later, she hopes to spread her love and knowledge of the craft at her very own barber school.

“Our next big thing is just to get going and try to create more barbers,” Southern said. “There’s a lot of barbers out there, but there's not a lot of good ones … So our plan is to help people figure out how to do it, and how to do a good job.”

An Upstate native, Southern started doing hair in the area when she was 18. Her route to barbering, though, was not really intentional, and came with a lot of trial and error. 

“I really just wanted to have a good place to work, and it was hard to find a good place to work,” she said.

Southern began her career working at a full-service salon, but did not care for it very much. A friend reached out to her one day and asked if she’d like to work at the barbershop where she worked. Not sure exactly what she wanted to do next, she took the opportunity.

It was here she would fall in love with the craft, but she wanted more flexibility with her hours and services. So, she took the leap and founded her own business, the Black Sheep Barbershop.

The barbershop has now been operating for nearly four years, and Southern has been able to open three additional barbershops in that time. She has another Black Sheep Barbershop in Lyman, and two shops called Head Coach Haircuts in Greenville and Simpsonville. 

Southern says that she hopes that clients across all locations are given a positive experience, with both their haircuts and the relationships they build with their barbers.

“I've never been the most professional, so we're not looking for high-end. That’s not what we want to be,” Southern said. “We just want [clients] to have a comfortable experience and feel good when they leave — a family type feeling.”

Southern noted that she believes this mission has been a great success: “All of my clients are pretty much friends now. We know a lot about each other, and it really turns into people that you go through life with.”

Now, Southern hopes to spread this same joy to new barbers in the area. Alongside Michele Godfrey, one of the master barbers at Black Sheep, Southern officially opened the Black Sheep Barber Academy this past August. The academy offers a year-long master barber course.

While you have to take her full course to get all her expertise, Southern did give potential new barbers one piece of advice.

“If you want something, just go for it,” she said. “Talk to people, learn from other people and don't be scared to learn, because there's always something to learn. Even if you think you know it all, there's always something.”

The Black Sheep Barber Shop can be found at 1205 W Wade Hampton Blvd. For more information on the Black Sheep Barbershop or the Black Sheep Barber Academy, visit their websites.

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