He had seated a number of people in his chair that had a hair disaster, but they always left looking radiant. This time, though, he was surprised by his own skills. As soon as the man walked in the door, you couldn’t really tell what was hidden under the mess. But after he worked his magic, the unbelievable truth was shown. The sudden change shocked everyone, and you had to see it to believe it.
The man was by no means an amateur. In fact, Tyler Fleetwood had been in the hair industry for seven years, and he was able to do it all. “From education, chain salons, booth rent, commissioned shops, developing my own product line, and now shop ownership!” he explains on his website. Fleetwood is the proud owner of White Stag Barber Co. in Springfield, Missouri. His specialty is trendy haircuts for men, which is probably why Kerry Conner chose to visit him.
Kerry Conner walked into the White Stag one day and asked about a haircut. Everyone stopped and looked at the man who looked like a cave men sent into the future. His strawberry blond hair reached down below his shoulders and his wild hair flew in every direction. His mustache and beard were messy and ragged. It was surely a hair disaster, but this man was on a mission to better himself.
Despite his looks, you would be surprised to find out that Kerry wasn’t a hermit that lived in a cabin in a mountain. Surprisingly, Kerry was a family man. He had three daughters with his girlfriend, Cara McConnell. But Kerry had a bit of a rebellious streaking, keeping him young at heart, but it also prevented him from maturing. For the sake of his family, Kerry knew he had to change, and that meant getting a haircut. Fortunately, he was in the right place.
Fleetwood isn’t just a barber. To him, there’s a whole philosophy that he calls “Be More.” “Part of feeling confident, being motivated, and staying ready to take on the world is having a look that kills. A look that says you’re not here to mess around. A look that lets everyone know you take pride in your presentation,” explains Fleetwood. Kerry had come to him to be more, so Fleetwood immediately got to work.
The first thing Fleetwood instructed Kerry to do was pull his hair back in a ponytail. Once he did, his facial features became a little more clear. Kerry’s crazy beard was unbelievably distracting and took the attention away from his beautiful eyes. The people in the shop were curious to see when Fleetwood was going to begin forming Kerry’s hair, which hadn’t seen a haircut in a while. Fleetwood was thinking of a more drastic solution.
As Fleetwood held Kerry’s ponytail in one hand, and the scissors in the other, he chopped of Kerry’s hair with a few snips of the scissors. It was shocking to see the incredible amount of golden hair that was now laying on the floor. But Kerry didn’t seem to be bothered by it. Maybe he had read what Fleetwood had wrote on his website: “If you sit in my chair, you will undoubtedly have a highly trained expert providing you with an extraordinary hair experience.” It was now time to sculpt the rest of the hair into something recognizable.
Half of Kerry’s hair was gone now, so Fleetwood became more precise with his cuts. Kerry was given a close shave on the sides and back of his head, but Fleetwood kept it a little longer on the top. Using a blow dryer and some styling product, Kerry was given a quiff that could have been in a fashion catalog for men. His was on his way to a full transformation. Now it was time to tackle the beard.
Fleetwood noticed that Kerry’s beard made him look ruggedly masculine in an attractive sort of way, so he wanted to leave it. But he wanted to trim it, and give it a geometric shape, in hopes of it bringing out Kerry’s strong jawline. Fleetwood then used some moisturizer to rehydrate his hair, and to also give it a shiny finish. Kerry’s haircut was finished, and as he swiveled around in the chair, people were in awe.
Kerry looked completely different than the man who had walked into Fleetwood’s shop earlier. He had a flawless complexion, incredible blue eyes, and his chiseled cheekbones were now demanding the attention. His transformation was breathtaking. Fleetwood truly created a masterpiece. Kerry looked like a hunk in Hollywood, getting ready to make his big break. It was a moment to be remembered, and luckily, Fleetwood had recorded it all.
Fleetwood posted the transformational video onto his Instagram page and the Internet was in an uproar. More than 5,000 people had watched it and there were even more comments, most of which were adoring words for Kerry. “From Viking to hottie! That’s awesome, love that haircut!” said one user. It wasn’t long before the video was reaching other platforms.
One of Fleetwood’s other clients posted the images on Reddit, saying “My barber is a hero.” The post received almost 11,000 views, and it even made it to Kerry’s circle of friends. “I know this guy! I’m friends with his girlfriend. We all got pretty great entertainment from this,” they said. Another user added, “Me too! So unreal to see him on here. Good thing [Cara] has a sense of humor about some of these comments.” Luckily, Cara and Kerry have a pretty strong bond.
Kerry and Cara were teenage lovers and were only 19 and 18 when they got pregnant with their first daughter, Rilynn. “Becoming parents at such a young age we’ve had the underlying need to prove to others that we can do this without the help of others, but this is such a special situation and we are realizing that it truly does take a village sometimes,” said Cara on Facebook. Now, more than ever, they really needed their village.
June 16, 2018, almost three years after his new haircut, Kerry was out riding his motorcycle with a friend, when he got into an accident. He had fractures on his left arm, a broken jaw, cut tendons in his right arm, a bruised heart, fractured ribs and clavicle, and a collapsed lung. He has had a bunch of successful surgeries, but his road to recovery will be a long one. Cara has spent every second by his side, making sure he knows how much she loves him.
“Kerry lives hard and fast and I’m learning to love him as hard as I can while I have him here,” wrote Cara on Facebook. Luckily, they’re not by themselves. In order to get help with medical expenses, Cara set up a GoFundMe page. After six days, they had received $3,470 of their $10,000 goal. Once Fleetwood heard about the accident, he shared Kerry’s video, asking people on his Instagram page to pray for him. Let’s hope that Kerry gets better as soon as possible.