This Philly Barber Is Pairing Haircuts With Health Care

Al Dashiell’s Center City barber shop, Chopped P.H.D., is hosting on-site health screenings with registered nurses twice per month. / Photography courtesy of The Gentle Giant Co (left) and Laura Brzyski

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If you walk past Chopped P.H.D. on Sansom Street, you might assume it’s just another sleek Center City barber shop, or wonder if owner Al Dashiell has a stack of academic degrees to his name. (Though he’s an expert barber, the P.H.D. here stands for ‘professional hair designers.’)

But spend a little time with Dashiell inside his lively, 800-square-foot basement shop, which opened on March 13th, and it’s clear he wants to give his clients something longer-lasting than cuts and fades.

Twice per month, registered nurses are on site for blood-pressure checks, heart screenings, blood sugar checks, and casual Q&As available to anyone — no sign-up needed. The next session is this Thursday, April 23rd.

The goal? To improve health outcomes for clients. And the inspiration? Dashiell’s own remarkable, six-year comeback from a life-altering medical crisis.

Dashiell has been barbering for over 30 years. He cut his teeth in the early ‘90s in a shop at 20th and Chestnut before eventually opening his own storefront in West Philly, where he grew up.

But Dashiell’s life radically changed in early 2020, when the pandemic closed his business. Soon afterward, COVID felled him, too.

“I thought I had the flu, but then my taste went away,” he says. “I quarantined in my home, but I wasn’t getting any better.”

At that time, doctors were unsure how the virus would interact with preexisting health conditions; Dashiell had been diagnosed as prediabetic a few years prior. So, to be safe, his primary care physician sent him to the ER on April 2, 2020.

“That’s the last thing I remember,” says Dashiell, who that day lapsed into a coma that lasted more than 40 days.

When he woke up a few days after Mother’s Day, he had no idea how much time had passed. (“I thought I was just asleep,” he says.) He learned that, at one point, his heart had stopped and, because his kidneys had failed, he was not only on dialysis but had been placed on an emergency transplant list for a new kidney.

Through rehab, Dashiell relearned how to walk and talk — he had had a tracheostomy while hospitalized. And then, as if by miracle, his kidneys began functioning on their own again.

Dashiell in his Center City barber shop, Chopped P.H.D. / Photograph courtesy of The Gentle Giant Co

“One doctor told me he had never seen that in his life,” Dashiell says. “And all I could say was, ‘I know the God I serve, and I know He can do anything.’” Because his kidneys were working — not optimally, but enough — he no longer needed dialysis or a transplant. Nonetheless, he now has chronic kidney disease. He and his doctors regularly monitor his glomerular filtration rate (GFR), which measures how well kidneys filter blood.

For context, a GFR of 90 or above indicates normal kidney function; a reading in the 15 to 60 range suggests chronic kidney disease; and anything below 15 signals kidney failure, and the need for dialysis or a transplant. Dashiell’s GFR was zero while in a coma then increased to around 35 during rehab. Today, it fluctuates between 17 and 50, depending on how hydrated he is or what medications he’s taking.

These past six years, life as Dashiell had known it has been altered. He’s made lifestyle changes to keep himself healthy, like eating more nutrient-dense food, drinking water instead of coffee upon waking, and doing Tai Chi every morning to loosen up his joints. (Post-COVID, he developed an autoimmune inflammatory disease, which causes him chronic joint pain.) He also closed his West Philly barbering spot for good.

“After cutting hair for 30 years, I didn’t think I was ever going to open [another shop] again,” he says. “But then an old client of mine reminded me that your barber is almost like a therapist or your best friend. Men don’t [often] talk to people about what they’re going through, but they talk to their barbers. And I thought, ‘Wow, you’re right — my clients talk to me about everything. Some stuff I have to take to my grave!’”

So last year, when space became available at 15th and Sansom streets — bonus: it was formerly a hair salon — Dashiell pursued it, eager to leverage something bigger from the trusting connections that barbering can foster.

“I realized when I got sick, that if more people were more informed about their health conditions, they might not get sick,” he says. “So, I asked myself a simple question, ‘What can I do to help?’”

So he’s back behind the chair again, in his own shop for the first time in six years, encouraging clients to jump-start their health in a place where they already feel comfortable – and with help from credentialed medical professionals like Arnetta Shaw, a registered nurse who specializes in mental and public health and is partnering with Dashiell for on-site services.

Melissa Smith (left), a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, and registered nurse Arnetta Shaw on site at Chopped P.H.D. / Photograph by Laura Brzyski

“Nurses get into the field because we want to help people understand what’s going on with their health,” says Shaw, who is currently developing Black Nurses Networking, a way for nurses to deliver care and provide education in local settings and to support each other professionally. “This, to me, is the perfect type of space to meet community members where they are — it’s true collaborative care. Our drop-ins allow Al to say to a client, ‘Hey, the nurses will be here on such and such a day — stop by then and talk to them.’ This barber shop is their familiar place, so they might be more inclined to follow through.”

That follow-through is critical: When it comes to high blood pressure, Black adults in the U.S. see the highest prevalence of hypertension — about 58 percent — compared to other racial or ethnic groups, as well as earlier onset and more severe complications, according to the American Heart Association.

And though Chopped P.H.D. services both men and women, the health screenings are especially helpful for men, who historically visit doctors less often than women.

“Say a person comes in to see us for the first time and their blood pressure is a little elevated, they can come again in two weeks and if it’s still high, it’s helping that person [and us] understand this is a trend,” says Melissa Smith, a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner with a private telemedicine practice, The Mindful Wellness Place, who has joined Shaw twice. “We can have a conversation about signs and symptoms of high blood pressure — like vision changes, headaches, and irritability — and their lifestyle habits, such as how much water they consume versus soda or energy drinks. The person gets a screening, but also education.”

For Dashiell, who has six kids and four grandchildren, this new venture has reignited his drive for wielding clippers from behind the chair. “My wife wonders why I still keep barbering, and I tell her, ‘I’m showing the kids that no matter what life brings you, you can’t let it bring you down — you gotta keep moving.’ I’m showing them that their dad isn’t a quitter.”

Dashiell jokes with a client. / Photograph courtesy of The Gentle Giant Co

“I also missed my clients,” he adds. “The atmosphere of a barber shop is almost like a ministry to me. I like seeing clients smile when they get out of the chair, I like when they come in wanting certain cuts or a change in color — it creates a challenge for me. Despite what I’m going through physically, I try to encourage my clients to make small [lifestyle] changes because they could save your life. And if I helped one person, then I did my job.”

Chopped P.H.D. will hold its next screening this week, on Thursday, April 23rd, from noon until about 2 p.m.

Chopped P.H.D is located at 1506 Sansom Street in Center City. Stay updated on future health screenings via Chopped P.H.D.’s Facebook and Instagram.