Chauncey Troutman – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

“I hope people will understand where they come from and who they are personally. Once you understand who you are and what your purpose is here in life, everything else is obsolete. You stop worrying about what everybody else is doing and worry about yourself.”

“I’m 45 years old, been cutting hair for approximately 28 years now. Been working here at VIP for the last seven months. Professionally at my own shop for nine years in Crafton Heights. Love cutting hair, been doing this all my life, wouldn’t trade it for the world, man. This is what I love to do.”

“[I love] Interacting with people. Making someone – they can come in the door with a frown on their face, walk out the door with the biggest smile, happy, walk out with a lot of confidence. I guess I’m kinda ‘gamechanger’ – a person that changes attitudes.”

“I’ve been moving around. I went to barber school in South Carolina – town called Rockhill, South Carolina. I went to Magnum Barber & Hairstyling College. Went to York Technical College for like two years; that wasn’t enough for me, I went for business administration. Left that alone, moved to Charlotte for a little bit, all of two years, then stayed down in Rockhill for about nine years, had a barber shop down there as well: Platinum Cuts. Came up for the ‘Hoodie Awards’ – which is Steve Harvey’s Hoodie Awards – four years ago.”

“There are a lot of differences, a lot of differences. In the South a lot of people are more polite, more outspoken, more friendlier. In Pittsburgh, everybody is set in their own bases. I guess you gotta know a lot of people here in Pittsburgh – which, I know a lot of people here in Pittsburgh. Nothing has been the same.”

“[I’d tell 18-year old me] Stay away from the streets. All your focus you’re gonna put on the streets, put it all in the barbershop. Put it all right here, because this is where it’s at, don’t get no better than this, brother. It really don’t, it really don’t.”

“This is Free World Steak & Shrimp, I call it. You see what I’m saying? You have to be able to sell yourself, and on top of selling yourself you have to be able to be a people person. You have to be able to talk to everybody, you gotta be diverse, you gotta be able to talk to all nationalities. In this barber profession, you got to talk to every nationality and be able to be that type of a person to make them sit down and feel comfortable with sitting in your chair.”

“In the South, there’s more emphasis on haircuts down there than here. Here, they get a haircut because your just there. Down there it’s like every weekend you have to get a haircut because you’re going to church – and they’re set in their ways. Up here it’s different. Down in the South, they have to have a haircut every week – they have to.”

“If they were going to shoot a movie about me, I would hope it’d be no watered-down version. Everything would be like, the way it is. Because, like I said, I’ve been through a lot. I’ve been through a lot of adversity. I donated a kidney to my mother…I’ve been going strong for the last 14 years…”

“The way I lived was the way that I lived – I wouldn’t take it back for nothing.”

Limited edition print available (alpha edition):
Giclée (Archival Inkjet) print w/ quotes hand-lettered on mat in silver pen.
1.25” Matte Black Frame, 2.5” Black Mat, Archival Hinge Mount, UV Glass.
19″ x 14″ (Framed: 26.5″ x 21.5″)
$1799

Chauncey - Limited Edition Print, Alpha
Click here for more information about limited edition prints.