Christopher Maag

Columnist, @Chris_Maag

For a man who’s worn the same buzz cut for the last 20 years, Jay Z’s barbering needs can only be described as elaborate. As one of the most successful and photographed musicians of all time, Jay Z’s hair must always look perfect, and perfectly identical to the way it looked the day before.

This effect is difficult to achieve, particularly because at age 47 Jay Z, born Shawn Corey Carter, is balding at the high corners of his face.

Concealing the cruel passage of time from Jay Z’s millions of fans requires a barber of uncommon skill. This person must be comfortable keeping secrets. He must possess the guts and the steady hands needed to apply a sword-sharp blade to one of the most recognizable faces on the planet. He must be willing to fly at a moment’s notice to wherever Jay Z happens to be, whether it’s Los Angeles or Angola or Japan.

For the last 20 years that barber has been Johnny Castellanos, who is based in Englewood and goes by the professional name Johnny Cake. Castellanos, 38, cuts Jay Z’s hair once a week. He has parlayed the trust of his superstar client into a barbershop in Englewood called The Shop that caters to regular people, sports and entertainment industry leaders who live nearby, and stars including Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan and Patrick Ewing.

“Johnny is the Kobe Bryant of barbers,” said Akbar Anderson, 38, who also cuts hair at The Shop. “He went straight from high school to the pros.”

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Cutting Jay Z is central to Castellanos’ identity and his brand. To maintain his access to a superstar for such a long time is rare, and it drives Castellanos to appear unfailingly cool.

“I always had it in my mind that I need to be the coolest barber out there, and that’s how I’m going to attract other customers who are high-profile,” Castellanos said. “I’m with [Jay Z], so I can’t act like a groupie or be super excited. I’m always the first to judge myself and overthink things.”

Like Kobe with scissors

Castellanos’s barbering apprenticeship was short. He started cutting hair for his friends in Englewood when he was 15. Soon he was training under his grandfather, a longtime barber with a shop in Washington Heights.

“There was no plan,” Castellanos said. “I was not doing well in school; my grandfather made a living at [barbering], I figured I could make a living at it. That’s it.”

When he was 18, Castellanos met Damon Dash, then Jay Z’s manager and business partner. Dash is mostly bald, and requires regular haircuts to stay cleanshaven. Castellanos started traveling twice a week to Dash’s Manhattan office for cuts. In 1997 Dash flew Castellanos to a party in the Hamptons. At the party, Dash introduced Castellanos to Jay Z.

The rapper was impressed ― few barbers arrive at parties by helicopter. He asked Castellanos for a cut.

It was a test of Castellanos’ coolness as much as his hair-trimming skills. Jay Z joked with the teenage barber, telling him not to be nervous.

“I was like, ‘Get out of here,’” Castellanos said. “But I was nervous. I had to act like I’ve done this before.”

Castellanos passed the test. Soon he was swept up into Jay Z’s entourage, joining the rapper on private jets for world tours, photo shoots, even an African safari. He met Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams, who became a regular client.

The arrangement works nicely, Castellanos said, because Jay Z and Williams both spend winters at their mansions in Los Angeles. So every week Castellanos drives to Newark airport, boards a commercial flight to L.A., shaves two very famous heads, then flies home.

“I’m grateful every time I get on a plane,” he said. “I’m really flying across the country for a haircut? Man, that’s crazy.”

The cardinal rule of cool

When he returns to The Shop, Castellanos takes charge of a nine-man barbering team, applying the lessons he has learned from Jay Z and other stars about how to be cool.

On a recent Thursday afternoon, six of the store’s 10 chairs were occupied with customers, and the gray tile floor was dark with hair clippings. Castellanos flicked his eyebrows to Anderson and another barber, Aaron Jeanty. Once he’d grabbed their attention, he nodded at the floor.

Both men got the hint, grabbed brooms, and started sweeping.

Unlike other barbershops he knows, Castellanos said he does not allow people to hang around all day or drink alcohol inside. When someone transgresses his unwritten rules, Castellanos is subtle but direct.

“When they do it I say, ‘Really?’ I don’t have to be nasty. They get it,” Castellanos said. “The average barber is talkative. He’s a character, he’s in everybody’s business. I’m like Jay Z. I don’t talk.”

Living by the rule of cool can get tricky. Recently Castellanos was in Japan, preparing to cut a celebrity’s hair, when he posted a photo on Instagram of his barbering kit. Just out of frame was his bottle of rubbing alcohol, required equipment when applying a straight razor to someone’s hairline.

Some of his followers blasted him for the apparent omission. Their comments left Castellanos feeling angry and hurt.

“In my head that messes with me. Little things like that can get to me,” he said. “I’m not ready to be famous. I don’t have the skin for that.”

In other situations, being cool comes as naturally to Castellanos as breathing.

Jacob Bean was a regular customer at The Shop while growing up in Tenafly. One recent afternoon, Bean, now a student at Rutgers University, needed a trim for a fraternity event. So he paid an Uber driver $68 for a one-way trip from New Brunswick to Castellanos’ shop.

Asked why he would do such a thing, Bean shouted The Shop’s praises.

“This place is the best!” said Bean, 21. “They cut Chris Rock’s hair! Johnny cuts Pharrell! Jay Z, yo!”

As Bean screamed, Castellanos looked up from the head he was shaving and shot Anderson a long, low-eyebrowed look. Anderson and Johnny Garcia, another barber, suppressed their laughter. No one said anything, but silently Castellanos made it known that this young man was violating his most important rule.

“I instilled it into my whole character,” Castellanos said. “Gotta be cool.”