Alabama barbers are trimming gun violence one haircut at a time: ‘I care’
This is another installment in The Birmingham Times/AL.com/CBS42 joint series “Beyond the Violence: what can be done to address Birmingham’s rising homicide rate.” Sign up for the newsletter here.
Every time David Almon has a young person sitting in his barber chair, he has a goal: Build up the youth and help set them on a good path forward.
Almon, owner of D and R Barber Shop in Anniston, has been cutting hair since he was in the eighth grade. And for more than 20 years, he has been a role model to the young people in his community.
“Some of them look at us as a father figure…You’re failing these young people if you’re just giving them a haircut and you’re not teaching them something while they’re in your chair.” Almon said. “I do it because I care and I want to give back. I’ve been one of those kids that needed that guidance.”
The Agency for Substance Abuse Prevention started the Barber’s Against Bullets initiative in 2023 after a community survey found that Anniston and Talladega area youth, ages 16-23, were the primary victims of gun violence. Shootings also are the leading cause of death among Alabama youth. Advocates say that getting community members, like barbers, to talk to youth about goal setting and plans for the future could help set them on the right path.
Seyram Selase, executive director of the agency, said he hopes the “staples of the community,” barbers, will build trust with the children and young men that sit in their chairs to turn every haircut into a step toward peace.
Almon said he knows multiple people who have been incarcerated, including his two brothers, and many others who have been shot and killed.
Some of his clients, both old and young, also have been affected by gun violence.
Because of this, Almon works with his young clients by hosting community service events and taking the kids out for fun activities.
When Almon is not giving haircuts, he is providing children with transportation, food and conversations about the importance of staying in school and being a leader.
The Agency for Substance Abuse Prevention started the Barber’s Against Bullets initiative to set youth on the right paths. David Almon, a barber, said that when a young person comes into his shop, he always encourages them to always do the right thing.David Almon
He said parents have called him because they know their child will listen to him. On one occasion, a mother called, concerned after she found out that her son was doing drugs.
Almon called his client and talked to him about options for his future. The client has since been enrolled in the military for 10 years.
“I want them to know that they have people out here, their parents, people in the community, that care about them. I try to tell them that it’s cool to be different and that they can be a leader,” Almon said.
‘They have a huge influence’

DaMarco Curry, prevention specialist with the Agency for Substance Abuse Prevention, said he works with the Barbers Against Bullets initiative because he never wants a child to experience gun violence like he did.DaMarco Curry
DaMarco Curry, prevention specialist with the Agency for Substance Abuse Prevention, said he works with the Barbers Against Bullets initiative because he never wants a child to experience what he went through as a young adult.
In 2018, at age 20, Curry was caught in the crossfire during an altercation between his friends who ran off and left him lying on the ground and bleeding out.
Two strangers took Curry to the hospital. Doctors told him he could have died. And while checking social media he found that the friends who left Curry bleeding on the ground had already made posts about his death.
“I saw my life literally flash before my eyes. My life just changed at that moment, seeing my mom and my younger brother cry,” Curry said.
Now, Curry is participating in monthly community meetings with barbers to discuss what problems their clients are facing. The stylists also share new methods to connect with their clients and plan community events.
“They’re cutting these young people’s hair anywhere from the age of six months old all the way to even, unfortunately, if a young person passes. These barbers even go to the funeral homes and give them that last haircut. Our barbers are very critical in this conversation to try to reduce substance misuse and gun violence,” Selase said.
“We’re informing the barbers that they have a huge influence over these young people’s lives. They just have to be willing to be that change agent.”
In 2023, Barbers Against Bullets hosted an event where local barbers and Young Joc, a rapper, talked to young people about the consequences of gun violence.
At the event, the children were asked to write down how gun violence has affected their lives on a card then place their cards into a casket to symbolically bury gun violence in their community.
In June, the Agency for Substance Abuse Prevention hosted a Ballers Against Bullets symposium where gun violence prevention advocates, including actor and former athlete Omari Hardwick, talked to over 100 youth about the consequences of gun violence.
The agency also started a Barbers Against Bullets podcast.
“We had barbers on the podcast and it was powerful because they talked about their testimonies, their stories…They play the podcasts at their barber shop just to start meaningful conversations and build that trust,” Curry said.
In the podcast’s first episode, Thomas Zimmerman, owner of Pooh’s Barber Shop, shared how he grew up without his father and often saw gang violence in his neighborhood.
Zimmerman said that when he started cutting hair at his local barber shop at age 15, he finally found male role models that he could look up to.
“Those guys taught me how to be a man. They taught me how to live. They told me what to do and what not to do. How to make money honestly. And how to stay away from the gun violence and the gang violence,” Zimmerman said in the podcast.
Today, Zimmerman does the same for the youth that come into his barber shop.
Organization members said that they need more barbers to get on board and join the movement to curb violence.
“When more barbers get involved, the more kids get involved. And when you do the right thing, you have more people willing to change,” Almon said.