Everything about the Dorm Room Kutz barbershop bleeds purple and gold — from owner Jamel Bowser’s customized LSU chair to the LSU athletes’ signatures on the wall.
Bowser is referred to as an “LSU legend,” even though his barbershop Dorm Room Kutz, located on Nicholson Drive, has no affiliation with the university.
Since the shop opened in August 2013, Bowser has cut the hair of more than 3,000 students and more than 100 student-athletes.
“When I started barber school, I was unemployed,” Bowser said. “I was homeless. I didn’t have a car. I was at my lowest point in life, period.”
Bowser moved to Baton Rouge in January 2011 to join his wife, Metadell Bowser, who is currently a nutrition and food sciences sophomore. He began cutting hair for free out of their apartment.
Recognition of his business quickly spread by word of mouth, and before fall 2011, he cut hair for more than 200 clients.
Bowser entered the military following high school and never received a formal college education. Regardless, his shop is a staple in the LSU community.
“Once you get bit by the Tiger, that’s a wrap,” Bowser said. “I just love being around LSU. It’s just a feeling you can’t even describe”.
At first, the idea of writing on his barbershop wall didn’t appeal to Bowser, but over time, it became a tradition for LSU athletes.
The first athlete to sign the wall was Jordan Jefferson, an LSU quarterback from 2008 to 2011.
“I always wanted to cut Jordan Jefferson’s hair,” Bowser said. That was a personal goal of mine.”
Bowser also cut Jordan’s brother’s, junior safety Ricky Jefferson, hair and let him sign the wall, with the intention of leaving the wall untouched after.
But shortly after the Jeffersons signed the wall, former wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. came in to get a haircut and noticed the signatures.
“I didn’t really have time to tell him no,” Bowser said. “You know he runs like a 4.3 [40-yard dash], so he got from the door, to the Sharpie, to the wall pretty quick. After that it was a wrap.”
Having LSU’s biggest stars come through the shop is a distinction not many businesses can claim, but the athletes are no more important than the next customer, Bowser said. When children come in and see LSU athletes, Bowser said it brightens their day.
Bowser also wants everyone who leaves his shop to look good.
“When I cut an athlete, I’m trying to get you what I like to call ‘ESPN fresh,’” Bowser said. “I don’t like to see my clientele on TV without a cut because I care so much about what I do.”
One of Bowser’s regulars, communication studies senior and LSU basketball guard Keith Hornsby has been going to Dorm Room Kutz since arriving on campus a little over two and a half years ago.
Hornsby said Bowser turns the mundane experience of getting a haircut into something fun. Bowser even supports Hornsby at his games and meets with him afterward.
“I’m pretty close with him,” Hornsby said. “It’s not [about] whether I am an athlete or if I’m not.”
Another regular of Bowser’s, former LSU running back Odell Beckham Sr., said he admires how professional Bowser is.
Beckham Sr. got his hair cut at Dorm Room Kutz while his son, Beckham Jr., attended LSU and continues to return to the shop whenever he needs a touch up.
“I definitely respect him for his craft because he definitely takes pride in it,” Beckham Sr. said.
Bowser, who is the father of two children, stresses the importance of a family atmosphere in his shop.
He said his staff is family-oriented, dedicated and passionate, and they don’t believe in taking days off.
“I got to get up and go work because I’m not where I want to be yet,” Bowser said. “I find time for my family … but it’s still going to be a work day regardless.”
Though Bowser has found a home on Nicholson Drive, he said he would like to open a barbershop in the LSU Student Union and on other SEC campuses. His goal is to open a shop at the University of Florida by 2023, followed by one at Auburn University.
Without the support system of LSU, specifically the class of 2015, there would be no Dorm Room Kutz, Bowser said.
“If Dorm Room Kutz was not here tomorrow, the student body at LSU would feel it,” Bowser said. “Every nationality, every different walk of life, black, white, Hispanic — we have so many different people come in here, but they all have one thing in common — they are coming from LSU.”