Editor’s note: Jayson Tatum will miss the rest of the playoffs after undergoing surgery Tuesday to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon suffered in Game 4 of the Celtics’ Eastern Conference semifinals series against the New York Knicks. This story was reported before Tatum’s injury.
BOSTON – Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum took a long gaze into the hand mirror his long-time barber Jules Gutierrez handed to him following a meticulous, nearly two-hour session at the Boston Celtics’ practice facility after a recent practice. The Celtics star smiled at his taper drop fade cut and said proudly, “I’m back.”
From Tatum’s hometown of St. Louis to Duke University to most NBA cities and primarily Boston now and New York City this weekend, Gutierrez has been cutting Tatum’s hair since he was 11 years old. The St. Louis resident takes a 2½-hour flight to Boston to cut the six-time NBA All-Star on most weeks during the regular season and also meets him on the road. Thanks to Gutierrez, Tatum has built a reputation of having the freshest fades in the entire NBA and perhaps all of American pro sports.
Through that barber-client relationship, Tatum now considers Gutierrez and his family part of his family.
“Jules has been cutting my hair since I was 11,” Jayson said on April 19. “So, he’s more like family now. He’s basically integrated into our family. But it’s not just a client-barber thing. He’ll come and support, watch the game. We’ve been doing this for a minute.”
Said Gutierrez: “Over the time and over the years, we’ve just became really close. Me and his mom are like sister and brother. We have that relationship. It’s just one of those things where you just want to make sure you take care of your family.”
Gutierrez was on hand when the Celtics won the 2025 NBA championship and took a picture with Tatum afterwards. Tatum talked about his hopes of being the first Celtics team to win back- to-back titles since 1968 when Gutierrez cut his hair on the eve of the postseason.
But Tatum and the Celtics’ title repeat hopes appear to be a longshot now after he suffered his season-ending Achillies injury during the fourth quarter of their 121-113 loss to the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals on Monday night. Sans Tatum, Boston is down 3-1 to the Knicks in the best-of-seven series and will try to avoid elimination at home tonight.
“Praying for the best,” Gutierrez told Andscape.
Tatum, 27, hails from St. Louis, Missouri, where he learned from his father, Justin, the importance – or, better yet, the infatuation – of regularly getting his hair cut. The former Saint Louis University basketball star told Andscape there was a time during his son’s youth that he went to the barber twice a week, which included getting a lining during one sitting and a haircut the other. So, like father, like son, Jayson eventually got infatuated with having a fresh haircut.
“My dad definitely introduced me to the barbershop,” Jayson said. “And like most kids, I didn’t like getting my hair cut. But around 12, 13, 14 age range was, you start to have some different interests. Getting my hair cut definitely became a priority. I eventually started getting my hair cut more than he did.”
When Jayson was 11, his father decided it was time for a new barber who could cut his son’s unique grade of straight hair. Jayson was not happy with the decision initially. A friend recommended Justin try this Dominican barber from New York who had a shop in the St. Louis suburb of Maplewood at the time. Like Jayson, Gutierrez had a unique style of straight hair that was past his shoulders at that time. Former NBA star Larry Hughes, who played with Justin in high school, and the rapper Chingy were also getting haircuts from Gutierrez.
“I didn’t like my first haircut,” Jayson said. “It took a long time. I was young. I had no patience.”
Jayson Tatum was quiet and skeptical during the visit. But he changed his mind about Gutierrez when he got rave reviews from his friends, family and classmates. Tatum and Gutierrez also ended up bonding over their love for gladiator-type movies, which were often playing in the barbershop on a television.
“He didn’t speak at first. He was like a kid who didn’t want a haircut,” Gutierrez said. “He didn’t want to do it. But then he realized he was looking fresh out there. And Jayson’s hair is very reminiscent of Puerto Rican hair. Somebody with the straighter hair, you get to taper him up. So, I gave him a little flavor…
“And he was a young kid. So, his haircut was just clean and really dope. I was able to adjust to anybody’s texture.”
Jules Gutierrez
Gutierrez, 51, was from Yonkers, a city of just over 200,000 in the New York metropolitan area. He said he and his mother lived “hotel to hotel” during his youth due to her financial struggles and other issues. He went into emergency foster care when he was 12 after his mother had a major medical issue. He was eventually placed into a group home in Ossining, New York, before moving to a permanent foster care family in Yonkers.
Gutierrez said he never moved back in with his mother. He was placed into a group home as a teenager after having behavioral issues but was allowed to move back into the foster home once he matured. While his foster care situation from age 11 to 21 was far from ideal, Gutierrez said he had a positive experience.
“I was able to get something out of that journey with the group home,” Gutierrez said. “There is a stigma there. You’re not supposed to last in society being in a group home. Once you’re in the system, you could be stuck in that system. But I wasn’t. And it was a blessing. And cutting hair was what pulled me out of it. So, I was fortunate.”
Gutierrez said he and the other young men in the group home used to get $12 gift cards for haircuts. He loved watching barbers cut designs like Nike signs into their hair during his visits. One of his other passions was also painting and drawing, which included mimicking designs he saw used in the barber shop.
Intrigued by the art of cutting hair, Gutierrez bought his own clippers, taught himself how to cut and started cutting the group home kids at a cheaper rate than the barbershop to make money. He also befriended a barber who ended up giving him an apprenticeship. While interning, the veteran barbers at the shop taught him all the tricks of the trade.
“Just the shop itself, the environment, was real dope to me,” Gutierrez said. “And I just wanted to do it. I needed the money they were sending me to take to the barber to get haircuts. I was like, ‘I’ve got to get that little $12 for myself.’ So, I started cutting in the group home, started practicing. And would cut all the kids up, some of the staff. And that made it a lot of fun.
“So, it was kind of exciting for me and I just fell in love with it. I needed the money. As a group home kid, you’ve got no money in your pocket. It was just something that I just got drawn to, gravitated toward. I loved it.”
Soon after, Gutierrez became a barber by trade with a growing clientele in Yonkers. He was quickly known for cutting meticulous taper fades. He also had a passion for fashion while growing up with Super Bowl champion Jimmy Kennedy in Yonkers. In 2006, the then-St. Louis Rams defensive tackle convinced Gutierrez to move to St. Louis to help promote their budding clothing line.
While in St. Louis the clothing brand didn’t take off, Gutierrez quickly built a client list as a barber that was attracted to his New York style of cutting hair and designs. He cut Kennedy’s hair and other Rams players at the team facility, which offered his first experience in a professional sports environment. On June 8, 2007, however, the clothing brand dream took another turn for the worse after Kennedy was traded to the Denver Broncos.
Gutierrez decided to stay in St. Louis sans Kennedy and opened a barber shop around 2008. He also met his wife Princesa, a New Yorker, in St. Louis and they have two children, Donnovan and Janae.
“I just started building clientele up and then I opened up a shop,” Gutierrez said. “The experience in St. Louis was really dope. It was a great way to reinvent myself. You’re in one place too long, you’re doing the same cuts after cuts. And a lot of people don’t like change. I got to go somewhere else and was able to kind of introduce new cuts and a lot of stuff that I was influenced by.
“So that was real fun. I loved that part about it. It was a great way to just change your environment and do everything.”
Jules Gutierrez
Jules Gutierrez
Tatum and his father continued to get their hair cut by Gutierrez through the former’s teenager years. Jayson’s mother, Brandy Cole, and other family members would take him to the barbershop when he needed a ride. It was during those years that Tatum became a high school basketball star who began receiving national acclaim.
Gutierrez eventually got word from his clients about how great Tatum was in basketball and started attending his games at Chaminade College Preparatory School.
“Even though I saw him all the time, you just would hear all the conversations in the news about him, and he was doing his thing,” Gutierrez said. “He was balling. I went to the game at Chaminade when he got his McDonald’s [All American] game award and Gatorade National Player of the Year award. That was kind of a cool thing that he had gotten back then. It was nice seeing him about to become something great.”
Gutierrez ended up losing Justin Tatum and others as clients after he raised his prices. Jayson, however, didn’t let the change in price dissuade him as he continued to see Gutierrez. Jayson Tatum also drove himself to appointments once he got his license at age 16. There was no way he was going to let a few dollars get between him and his barber who cut his unique hair so beautifully.
“When I raised my prices, you lose a lot of people. Jayson never folded. He was at that shop every other week, man,” Guitterez said.
Said Tatum: “When I was growing up, finding somebody that could cut my style of hair was a lot of trial and error. Getting my lining right, making sure my taper (was right) and fading it the right way. But then it was just perfect when we found Jules.”
Tatum ended up leaving St. Louis in college to play for Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski at Duke. The St. Louis kid did find a barber that he and his teammates used in Durham, North Carolina, but he missed Gutierrez. So, to take care of his young client, Gutierrez drove from St. Louis to Duke to cut Jayson at “important games” and also a road game at Clemson and with his son to the 2017 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Brooklyn, New York.
As much as Tatum loved the exclusive haircuts, Gutierrez loved the adventure of the travel to cut outside of the barbershop.
“I drove to Duke a couple times,” Tatum said. “Those were important cuts. I got a couple selfies he would send me where they would push his little hairline back and he’d be like, ‘They’re tearing me up out here.’ And so, I went out there a couple times. It was a long drive, but worth it. Anything to help him out because he just wanted to be fresh sometimes. I knew it was important to him. And it was fun for me to kind of just travel and go. You don’t realize it, but you’re taking a road trip. And I get to go to Duke and see the school.
“And the drive wasn’t bad if you do it in the daytime. Nighttime, it starts getting a little dark through those mountains. But I had fun doing it. You cut in the shop all day, every day. Then you’re doing something different going out on the road, bringing your little clipper bag. And that was exciting.”
Gutierrez actually had a fear of flying, but when Tatum was selected by the Celtics with the third overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft, Gutierrez realized it was time to let his fear of flying go. He also wanted to go back home to New York City more often to visit family and friends. It definitely didn’t make sense for him to drive 17-plus hours to Boston or New York City.
Jules Gutierrez
Inspired by Tatum, gas prices and the annoyance of long drives, Gutierrez finally opted for the friendly skies in the summer of 2017.
“Don’t get me wrong, I go up there sometimes and that little turbulence gets you,” Gutierrez said. “But I’m kind of over it now. I’m really comfortable now going up. It’s just like a routine thing now. I’m used to it. But I wasn’t back then.”
It’s not uncommon for Guitterez to fly to Boston or other NBA cities to cut Jayson’s hair during the season as his primary barber, typically on a weekly basis.
Gutierrez’s wife gives her husband a projected haircut schedule once the Celtics’ regular-season schedule is announced. The only NBA cities that he hasn’t cut the 2024 NBA champion in are Dallas, Houston, Sacramento and Charlotte. Gutierrez has also cut Tatum’s hair during commercial shoots. He flew to Boston last week to cut Tatum’s hair and is in New York City this weekend as well.
Through it all, Gutierrez has seen Tatum grow from his shy 11-year-old kid to a globally known NBA star who still requests his service and pays the necessary travel, hotel and other fees to make it happen.
“I can get emotional just because you realize this kid was dreaming about becoming an NBA star before it became a reality, and you watched this kid grow to where he’s at now,” Gutierrez said. “And I was a part of that journey, just seeing it and witnessing it.”
It has also come full circle with the Tatum family, as Gutierrez now cuts the hair of Jayson’s son, Jayson “Deuce” Tatum Jr., when possible. Jayson said it was sentimental to see his son get a haircut from Gutierrez. And like father like son, Deuce is struggling adapting to the length of Gutierrez’s meticulous haircuts.
“I just remember going to get haircuts with my pops,” Guitterez said. “And now, I’m telling my son, ‘Time for a haircut. Get in the chair. Be still.’ He is asking me every two minutes, ‘Is Jules done yet?’ ”
NBA television analyst Jalen Rose has a reputation for always having a fresh haircut on television. The former NBA guard also raised eyebrows for paying $100 for a haircut. Rose has also expressed respect for Tatum’s fresh haircuts. Gutierrez said it meant a lot to him that Rose offered respect on television.
Rose also noted that his fresh haircuts didn’t arrive until after his NBA playing career. The 13-year NBA veteran said he primarily had a bald cut during his playing career. But that changed when he started appearing as an NBA analyst on television regularly in 2006.
“On television, a red carpet and as a public figure, if you have a fresh cut, do it,” Rose told Andscape. “They said it was something special, but I just got a haircut at 4 p.m. before I went on TV. When a lot of people go on the stage, they aren’t crisp.”
Rose said he has a barber in Detroit (his hometown), Atlanta, Connecticut, New York City and Los Angeles for his television appearance and for personal hair maintenance. While Tatum does use other barbers from time to time, Gutierrez is undoubtedly his primary barber. “We talk about it. We joke about it,” said Rose about his conversations with Tatum about their infatuation for a fresh haircut.
“Jayson has the crown now. The barber shop in a lot of ways is a hub for community, interaction and learning from the OGs. It’s a common knowledge and respect that we have for one another. The barber becomes your therapist. It wasn’t just a $100 for a cut. It’s therapy and a relationship. My guys have been cutting me for 10 years. And that’s what he has with his barber. I respect Jayson’s loyalty.”
Said Tatum of Gutierrez: “It’s cool having someone that knows my story and been through it all with me. He knows my kids.”
Despite being from New York, Gutierrez said he has never been a Knicks fan. That doesn’t mean he grew up a Celtics fan either. But ever since Jayson Tatum put on that green and white uniform, his beloved barber and his family have become huge Celtics fans.
While Gutierrez is hearing trash talk from his friends back home who are Knicks fans, he will always ride with his prized client while making sure his hair looks fresh for the game.
“I’m getting a hard time from everyone in New York,” Gutierrez said. “This ain’t over.”