He had a passion that started at a young age. From observing in the barber shop to using the scissors himself, senior Ibraheem Hamza has started his own business cutting hair. A month ago, Hamza started “BuFalas Blades,” which brought him one step closer towards his future career of managing a hair cutting business.

Hamza caters mostly towards men, and occasionally girls who want an undercut between the ages of 15-40. For haircuts, Hamza charges 10 dollars, for beards he charges five dollars, and to get eyebrows done, he charges three dollars.

“I’ve always been into [cutting hair],” Hamza said. “I would always be interested in what’s going on and how [the barber cut hair] and what he used. Over time, I just wanted to end up doing it and it’s something I’m really passionate about.”

Hamza first began this business by making his own business cards, practicing on his own hair and watching videos to learn how to cut properly. He came up with the name, “BuFalas Blades.”

“BuFalas means Palestinian,” Hamza said. “People would refer to it as people who weren’t hard working. I took that as an inspiration to show that I’m Palestinian but I still work hard.”

Starting BuFalas Blades has been stressful on Hamza, especially working solo. But he has found ways to help him out and make it work.

“I have to keep my grades up so it shows that it’s not affecting my studies,” Hamza said. “No one’s helping me financially. I sell anything I have that’s valuable and that I can get money out of.”

The entire process from getting supplies, advertising and getting a client is something Hamza has struggled with, but is coping to work with it.

“It’s a very hard process right now because people who see me they just think I’m a student with a pair of clippers,” Hamza said. “If I don’t have a client I [practice cutting hair] on myself and just do that as advertising.”

Hamza hopes that after high school, BuFalas Blades will be more than a solo business. He intends to go to college and expand this business into bigger and better things.

“I plan to go to college and get a business degree and hopefully get my license where I can open and run my own shop,” Hamza said. “It may be three to four years before I can open my own shop. I’d do that, then hopefully open up salons for women, barber shops as a franchise, probably something for animals too like a grooming station, open a line of products, something big. I’m not just gonna be cutting hair for the rest of my life, I’m gonna be doing something big with it.”