No ordinary barber
Plus: news in brief, a review of Wagamama, our weekly events guide, and more
Jake Cox is no ordinary barber. Operating out of a room at the back of a salon on St. Mary’s Island, he focuses on providing a safe space for men to talk about their mental health while also giving them a great haircut. Now, he’s branching out to teach more barbers how to do the same. We’ve been finding out more. Further down, we have our review of the newly opened Wagamama in Chatham, our Friday news in brief roundup, as well as our weekly events guide.
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No ordinary barber
In a room behind a salon on St. Mary’s Island in Chatham, Jake Cox runs No Bad Days, a barbershop unlike most others you’ll see.
It’s a small space but an incredibly calm one. Music plays in the background, an air purifier hums and birds tweet outside the window. The walls are decorated by a messy combination of art, guitars, and football shirts. Most notably, there is just a single chair, and Jake is the only barber.
It’s a scene at odds with so many barbershops that are dotted throughout our towns.
“Some barbershops you walk in, and there’s ten barbers and ten chairs, chaos, loud music, hair flying everywhere,” notes Jake, describing this as a "sensory overload".
Starting by developing hair products in South London, Jake wanted his barbershop to “run a little deeper”. He is open about his mental health struggles and wanted to base his own business around creating a safe space for men to talk about their issues.
The format of his barbershop isn’t to make everything about mental health, but instead, to create a space where clients can feel comfortable talking about their personal struggles if they want to. Jake says it’s more about “subconsciously easing people into talking about mental health.”
The stats regarding men’s mental health offer some horrifying reading: men are three times more likely than women to take their own lives, men in their 40s have the highest suicide rate in the UK, men report lower life satisfaction, and are far less willing to seek support for mental health issues.
“No matter what’s going on outside in the world, you come into No Bad Days, and you forget about it.” Jake has clearly tapped into something. His client book is full weeks in advance, and of the 1,021 reviews of the shop on Fresha, 1,020 are five stars.
Jake is effusive in his love of cutting hair and everything that comes with it: the conversations, the people, and learning from those sitting in his chair.
Starting off as a barber in South London, moving from shop to shop, and cutting hair in gardens, bathrooms, and, at one point, his mum’s shed, he (slightly unexpectedly) ended up on St. Mary’s Island after looking for somewhere to live and typing ‘new builds near the water’ into Google.
St. Mary’s Island was the first place he and his partner viewed, and while looking for a home, he ended up spotting the room he works in now. One conversation with the owner of the salon at the front and everything seemed to immediately fall into place, and the No Bad Days barbershop was born.
Since then, he’s built a large and impressive client base. People who had their hair cut by Jake in South London still come to him in Medway, players from Gillingham, Chatham, and Charlton football clubs are regulars, as are athletes from Team GB.
Jake believes much of this is down to the unique experience he offers. Of course, “first and foremost, I’m here to give them a good haircut”, but it’s also the service and the environment.
Beyond that, though, creating a safe mental health space is at the heart of everything. Jake aims to create a non-judgmental space, and because of his reputation, he ends up seeing clients who haven’t had haircuts for years due to anxieties or other struggles, something he feels a responsibility to help them through.
Jake is keen to point out that he isn’t the same as a mental health professional. “I’m not here to solve everyone’s problems, I’m not here to be a counsellor or a therapist, I’m here to be a listening pair of ears.” What he can do is signpost people toward appropriate services, and a number of mental health support flyers are available for clients.
Something Jake has had to navigate with this approach, though, is how to look after his own mental health while supporting others. He admits that when he first started, he would take on the worries of clients, and at the end of the day, “it would sit on my chest.”
Over time, he’s learnt how to protect himself mentally, allowing him to listen and offer help without taking on the problems.
This has led him to launch a mental health training course for other barbers. He’s doing this in collaboration with the charity Mind, which helped him during his own struggles. Since the launch of No Bad Days, he’s given 10% of all profits from the products he sells to the charity.
The one-day course will take place next month at the St. Mary’s Island Community Centre and has already received a good response. Barbers from Medway, Sittingbourne, Canterbury, and London, as well as apprentices just getting started, have booked to take part.
It might sound counterproductive from a business point of view for a barber whose unique selling point is mental health to tell everyone else how to do the same, but Jake is pragmatic about that. “I can only cut 15 people’s hair a day, but I want to help the world.” A lofty goal indeed, but as many barbers as possible being trained in handling mental health issues can only be a positive thing.
The course will train barbers to listen, signpost service, protect their own mental health, and try to stop them from doing the wrong thing or offering bad advice. Support can be as simple as knowing when to give someone a leaflet or just when to listen.
Jake is aware of the challenges he faces. As he notes, “In barbershops, there’s a lot of toxic masculinity”, and he hopes his training can help barbers do better and provide a better atmosphere for their clients.
If the course succeeds, he’d like to take it out around Kent and further afield, but is also conscious of just how much he can do. He already runs the barbershop, sells clothing and lifestyle products, hosts a podcast on mental health issues, and now he’s running the training course. He isn’t short of ideas, though, with an aim for No Bad Days to be a full lifestyle brand, acting as “a one-stop shop for bettering your mental health.”
He is aware that to do that, he will need to expand his team, but he is also keen not to lose that one-on-one interaction that makes No Bad Days unique. As such, he doesn’t yet know what the future looks like, whether it’s a number of small barbershops dotted around under the brand or running a larger hub.
At one point in our conversation, Jake says that he’s a believer in “talking things into existence”. With the evidence of all he’s done so far, it’s not hard to believe him.
You can find No Bad Days inside Atlas Place on St. Mary’s Island, and follow on Instagram here.
In brief
🏊 The replacement for Splashes in Rainham is set to open on 17 July. The new Cozenton Park Sports Centre features a lane swimming pool, a leisure pool, a gym, and more.
⬆️ Sun Pier House are crowdfunding £8,000 as part of their project to install a lift to make the venue fully accessible. They need less than £800 to hit their target if you have a few pounds and would like to support a worthy cause.
🛒 Tesco is set to open a Tesco Express in Halling. The site, alongside a care home next to St. Andrew’s Lakes, was originally intended to be a Co-op.
🏗️ The first 91 homes of an 800-home development in the Capstone Valley have been approved by Medway Council. The site is at the southern end of the East Hill development site between North Dane Way and Capstone Road.
🌊 The Strand Lido has been recognised for its historical significance. The Victorian pool is the only remaining riverside tidal saltwater pool in England.
⛪ The restoration of St John’s Church in Chatham is now underway. When completed in 2025, the building will become a community hub with facilities for events and classes, flexible meeting spaces for businesses, and a café.
Out to Lunch: Wagamama in Chatham
In which Steven Keevil assesses the lunch options available in our towns. This week, he’s been down to the new Wagamama in Chatham…
Located next to the bus stop at Chatham Dockside stands a brand-spanking new Wagamama. We went on opening day, and so everything was as new and shiny as you would expect. If you have never been to a Wagamama, what you might not expect is an aesthetic akin to a posh canteen. You’ll find sets of long tables, meaning that on busy days, you will have the ‘pleasure’ of sharing tables with strangers. There is a chaotic energy to the place with many staff serving and cooking. This isn’t due to opening day, it’s all part of the vibe. Once you have ordered and they have entered the order on the tablet, they write the menu item numbers on your paper placemat. Why do they do this? I don’t know, and I don’t want to know.
I’ve personally always struggled to find a main that I want in Wagamama, but that’s okay because they have a great small plate menu. I ordered crispy chilli oyster mushrooms, duck gyozas with cherry hoisin dipping sauce, butterflied prawns coated in panko breadcrumbs, and a white onion creamy slaw. The chaos continues as the food arrives when it’s ready rather than timed to come together, and a mix-up means I get two portions of duck gyozas for the price of one. Which is fine because the food that arrives is frankly delicious. The prawns are crunchy and succulent, the duck gyozas are crisp, not greasy, and with the hoisin dip, are incredible. The mushrooms… don’t arrive for a while. The onion slaw arrives on its own and isn’t great. Finally, the mushrooms arrive and are superb.
Wagamama has come to Medway and doesn’t disappoint. Get into the vibe of the place, be patient, and you’ll have a flavour sensation.
Events this week
🎻 Tomorrow night (Sat 18 May) is the final City of Rochester Symphony Orchestra concert of the summer season at the Central Theatre in Chatham. This time, the orchestra will focus on the works of Ravel, Chopin, and Debussy. Tickets £11-17.
🥕 Rochester Farmers Market is back on Sunday (19 May) in the Blue Boar Lane car park. Around 20 traders will be selling local and unique food and drink. Free.
📽️ Cineworld continue their Danny Boyle season with a screening of 28 Days Later on Tuesday (21 May). Great fun lo-fi zombie apocalypse action starring Cillian Murphy and Christopher Eccleston. Tickets £5.
🤘 New York metal band Clouds Taste Satanic play at Poco Loco on Thursday (23 May). They will be supported by local noisemongers UpCDownC. Tickets £5.
🎸 Careful Now Promotions are back with possibly the Medway gig of the year next Friday (24 May). The stuffed lineup features Scottish alternative outfit Broken Chanter, who will be supported by indiepop supergroup Mammoth Penguins and the excellent Little Storping In The Swuff, aka Medway musical hero David Goggin. Tickets £8.
Footnotes
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Music that soundtracked the creation of this edition: Goths by The Mountain Goats, Read Music/Speak Spanish by Desaparecidos, and We Have Always Lived in the Harolds by Trust Fund.
I hope Jake succeeds in his venture. He seems sincere in his endeavours.
I think part of the problem regarding men struggling more with their mental health may be, in part, due to the fact they are taught from an early age to "man up" and, "Don't be a sissy". "Men don't cry" etc. It's better these days, but there's a long way to go. All these idioms lead to the toxic masculinity that Jake mentions. Men feel the need to suppress their feelings.
You change the world one step at a time, however small the step.
Jake seems to realize that. Well done.
Is it me or was there an almost sly, "damning with faint praise" vibe to the Wagamama review? The double use of "chaos", a mixed-up order, delayed slaw that "isn't great" and yet the place "doesn't disappoint"? Presumably that means the expectation was low going in, and that bar was met rather than cleared.