By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – Tiffany Stire and Joe DiGerolamo have made a pretty good match at their new business together—Front Street Barber.
Stire brings a female barber’s perspective to cutting hair, while DiGerolamo brings a man to the scene.
Stire is from the younger generation with over 20-years of experience in the hair cutting business, while DiGerolamo has been at it well over 40 years.
Together, they believe they are offering the best barber shop in Slidell, specializing in haircuts for men and boys. Front Street Barber is open for business at 2256 Front St.
“I knew from a very young age I wanted to be in fashion in some way,” Stire said. “I went right into the Academy of Creative Hair Design after high school, but in time I realized I really liked cutting men’s hair more than doing women.”
Stire said her father, John Stire from New Orleans was very involved in politics when she was growing up. She sees his influence as making her aware of style and fashion.
“In the world he was in it was important to look your best. I remember he was voted as the ‘Best Dressed Businessman in New Orleans’ three years in a row by Gambit, all because he was on the Planning Board,” she added. “That also made me aware of looking your best.”
DiGerolamo was the former owner of Slidell’s Head 1st Hair, which opened here in 1971 and operated for 13 years. He also found his way into the barber business quickly after high school, although it wasn’t always a passion of his from a young age.
“I was looking for some kind of job after graduating from Nicholls High School in New Orleans and I fell into the barber business simply because I came out of a movie in New Orleans and saw the New Orleans Barber and Beauty School. I went home and told my dad I was going to try to be a barber,” he said.
Now at the age of 69, DiGerolamo found he truly loved working in the business, starting as the first hair stylist at the Monteleone Hotel in New Orleans. He opened his first business at the young age of 23 in New Orleans when Stag Barber and Beauty Salon opened its doors on Gentilly.
He connected with his wife, Judy, who was a cosmetologist and the pair began working together when they came to Slidell and opened Head 1st Hair.
“She did hair styling for women and I was the barber,” he said. “We’re still together after all these years and we’ve worked together in business ever since we got married.”
Stire moved to the Northshore in 1994 and trained under a longtime Slidell barber, Tony Scariano, who operated Tony’s Barber Shop on Robert Boulevard.
“Tony taught me so much and I’ll always appreciate what I learned working with him,” Stire said. “I realized during that time that barbering was my calling.”
At Front Street Barber the two are offering what they call the “old time barber experience” which includes the hot lather, straight razor neck shave to finish your haircut.
DiGerolamo and his wife had moved to Diamondhead 10 years ago and following Hurricane Katrina he had not been cutting hair in a full-time way until meeting Stire in Slidell recently, when she was considering a lease on the current site.
“I told her that I used to cut hair for many years and the next thing you know we decided to do this together,” he said. “I still love cutting hair because of the creativity involved in what I do.
“I think Tiffany and I are specialists in men’s haircuts when you consider my experience and her years working with Tony,” DiGerolamo said. “I love seeing someone in a store who I had in my shop a few days earlier and cut their hair. I like to see how it turned out.”
Front Street Barber is open from 9-5 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; from noon to 7 p.m. on Wednesday; and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.