Darren Shea has been a barber at John & Son’s Barber Shop in Halifax for the last 27 years. His father, John, has been working in the town for 54 years and is celebrating 60 years since going to barber school this October. Shea’s nephew and cousin also work in the shop which Shea says his father built from the ground up.
Shea recently completed work on a children’s book about getting your first haircut and the main character is none other than his own father. The book, John’s Crew: My First Haircut, will be available next month. It will be for sale at John & Son’s as well as other online and brick and mortar locations. A website johnscrew.com, which will be live in October, will have purchasing and other information on it.
Asked if writing a children’s book was something he always wanted to do, Shea said it actually wasn’t. Shea called himself “the perfect example of ADHD” saying that it enables him to think outside the box and come up with creative outlets for his ideas.
“I thought about the idea during Covid when we weren’t working… it just kind of popped into my head,” he explained.
Shea said he loosely based the idea on the children’s show, Bob the Builder. He explained, “Why don’t we make a barber version of Bob the Builder and have his tools be the ones that talk and teach kids lessons and make them not scared of haircuts.” Shea said that the character of the barber pole is loosely based on himself. He laughed saying, “he’s always spinning, he’s always excited; he’s right in the window and he sees the people come in.”
Shea explained that while on the surface the book is about a child receiving their first haircut, it is really about generations.
Shea explained that he drew inspiration from nearly thirty years of cutting hair, especially those first ones that mark a milestone in any young child’s life. “This first book is pretty much based on real life experience. We have a horse chair in the barber shop and this book has a horse chair in it.”
He continued, “It’s pretty much based on this kid has to go in for a haircut and the father got a haircut from the same barber, so it’s all about generations; if you went there as a kid, then your kid goes there, then your kid’s kid.” Shea has big plans for future books in what he hopes will eventually become a series. He said he would like for them to follow the child in the first book as he grows and eventually has his own child who will then need his first haircut.
Shea credits his father John with creating the kind of shop that has served multiple generations. “Even the people that don’t come in anymore they still walk in to say hi; it becomes a family,” Shea explained.
Despite a close personal and working relationship with his father, Shea managed to keep the book a secret from him for two years. Over Labor Day weekend, he planned a party with family where he unveiled the book to his father.
The book is being published by Kate Conway of Bourne and it is illustrated by Dan Bigelow of Fall River. Shea said that he came up with the concepts for the drawings and Bigelow brought them to life. He sang Bigelow’s praises, saying he truly has an eye for creating illustrations that will appeal to the desired demographic.
Shea will be doing readings and book signings in local libraries and schools in the coming months. It will be $24.95 plus tax, and he will be accepting Venmo, credit card, or cash.