It is where men commune, energizes, and mobilize one another, encouraging each other to get regular mental and physical healthcare checkups.
Many men have a stoic or pessimistic stance toward receiving help with their physical or psychological well-being. Many have shared that the barbershop is where they have been able to talk openly with other men about matters that they would not share in different locales. This place of solace is known as “The Barbershop Therapy,” a place to edify and share coping tools to help other men who may have or come across relatable experiences. Conversations that are designed to help others alleviate complex emotional trauma. The Barbershop is therapeutic when men come together and do not have to be concerned about their peers emasculating them or looking down upon them because they all communicate in a safe and comfortable environment where they can receive information from other men with different perspectives. There has been a stigma outside of the barbershop as we look deeper into men’s health: men are less proactive regarding their health, and many men were taught that showing signs of health or mental health issues is a sign of weakness.
The impediment is due to the lack of conversation or resources and help.; that hasn’t been a focal point for many men who suffer in silence. Historically ethnicity and a sense of no immunity have been a setback for many men seeking help regarding their overall health. We are now in an era where men can finally break their silence and speak out. I was invited by a fantastic group of men who are trendsetters and have collectively opened the conversations about their personal experiences with men’s healthcare and mental healthcare. I am honored to introduce to our community “Barbershop Therapy.” An environment where men stand together as a united front in efforts to address healthy conversations with other great men sharing relatable stories that have resonated behind the walls of solidarity. I sat down and had a one-on-one with Yahweh Beauty Academy and the administrator Mrs. Anita Reagan. Yahweh is a cosmetology barber and manicure program in an accredited school. I had an excellent time touring the grounds of Yahweh; everyone was so inviting, and I felt welcomed instantly. I walked into the barber school with a room full of talented bodacious men who spoke about men’s health and shared their personal stories.
We all know that men’s health is equally as important as women’s health, but women historically get themselves checked out regularly more often than men. There is a stigma on why men are not proactive in their healthcare, an impediment that has silenced men to ignore their personal needs. In different communities and ethnicities, it is taught that a man is supposed to be strong and never cry or complain; if they do, it’s a sign of weakness. Contrary to that belief, a man’s strength is to take care of his overall health so that he is healthy enough to support others. There are barriers for men to seek help regarding their health, especially mental health. Due to a misconception about the masculine ideology that has been personified regarding men’s health. In many cultures, some were taught that a man’s traditional social role is to be more to others than he is to himself. Their only release is in the workforce, locker rooms, gym, or barbershops. A place where men come together regularly and have those peer-to-peer conversations about investments, single-parents, healthy parent homes, creating generational wealth, and men’s health. Everything within the confinement of the barbershop walls was the men’s code to release and share, then get back to their livelihood.
A place of camaraderie and therapy has helped other men find sound advice from astute men to help them compartmentalize, find refuge, and exchange resources to help one another. Often the conversations are multifaceted because of an aversion to people who may not understand the struggle behind the smile. As I sat with the men at Yahweh beauty academy, I learned a lot; many are entrepreneurs, leaders, and trailblazers who have shared with me that mental health and health issues have dominated the African American communities because, generationally, the history of the culture has been polarized. The “Movember” movement is a way to break through the barriers to stand with one another and bring to the community of men, especially African American men, a reverberating effect that will create change as it concerns men’s health care. Yahweh shared their thoughts and stories to help shatter the stereotype of men’s health and continue this movement on men’s health issues. Here’s what they said;
Marquilo Rhymes: “Many men walk around not knowing that they have issues or not knowing that could hurt them; I was walking around for two years not knowing I had cancer and went and got checked; good thing they caught it in time; there are people who won’t get checked and could end in a bad situation because they never got checked out.”
JT: “Growing up without a father figure; it’s really hard for a mother to teach a boy how to be a man; it takes a man to fail on his own to become a man, but it shouldn’t have to be like that.”
Eduardo Savalier: “Suicide prevention is a big deal; I’m a veteran, and I’ve been there before, so it’s essential to spread the word and spread the word about suicide prevention because it’s a big deal: mental health around the world is a big deal right now. We need to speak out. A 7-year veteran.”
JT: “Men are not speaking up and holding everything in until they explode until it’s to a point where it’s too late. I feel like more men should at least talk to their homies. Talk to somebody that they trust.”
Marquilo: “A lot of men don’t go to therapy even if they don’t go to therapy, talk to somebody. So, they can get different perspectives and talk to more than one person: a lot of people who commit suicide won’t even tell you; they do it. Always talk to somebody – Ask “How someone is doing or how their day is going so you will know how someone is feeling.”
As the conversation opened, Yahweh’s “Movember” movement opened the door for more discussions within the community, which has headlined the talk among men to consider their healthcare, especially mental health, which has plagued all men regardless of their backgrounds and ethnicities. Yahweh’s barbershop added, “Many men feel like they are less of a man; it’s their egos; you know exactly why men won’t seek help? Their toxic masculinity sums it up because every black man growing up always tells you it will be challenging; you already have two strikes against you. You’re not supposed to cry; you’re supposed to be hard all the time. It’s how we were raised; it is embraided in us. We were always set up for failure when we were born. It takes for us to fail to face those adversities takes for us to fail to overcome those adversities and strive to be who we are supposed to be, but if you never fail, you never strive to great heights, and we don’t seek help; it takes for someone to fall apart for them to get help.”
Let us all take notice of the men at Yahweh beauty academy as they stand to be the model in the collective effort to continue the movement for men’s health. Men, get checked out with your healthcare providers and join the Yahweh movement.
One in eight men in the USA will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. Black men are twice as likely. In 2022, there were 268,490 estimated cases.
Globally, on average, one man dies by suicide every minute of every day.
Testicular cancer strikes young. It is the most common cancer in young American men. About 8,000 to 10.000 men will develop testis cancer yearly.
Let’s patronize this movement within our community. Mo-Move “Mustache Party” is 7 to 10 p.m. Nov. 18 at Killeen Arts & Activities Center, 801 N. 4th Street.
