Milwaukee Barbershop Legend Gee Smith on Three Decades of Community Building

Gaulien "Gee" Smith is the founder and owner of Gee's Clippers, a Milwaukee barbershop, and Gee's MKE Wellness Clinic, both making a huge impact in our community. 

Gee's Clippers opened on June 1, 1995. The barbershop has created community partnerships with the Milwaukee Bucks and numerous other large companies in the Milwaukee area. Gee's MKE Wellness Clinic is a health clinic within the barbershop providing health care and education to individuals in the community.

Gee was one of the guests on “Milwaukee Made.” The following Q&A is from his chat with show host David Caruso.

Q: How did this all come to be? I read that as a young boy you actually started cutting the hair of your own siblings?

Smith: “That's how I started. I was 12 years old and I grew up with five brothers and one sister and six boys is quite a bit of money for your parents to be paying every two to three weeks to get a haircut. So one of us had to pick up the trade. So it was me. I started off cutting my own hair at 12 years old and by the time I was 13, I had a lot of practice in my own house.

“What's funny, man, I didn't really think it was going to be a true career until I was like 21. That was when I decided to go to school for barber and cosmetology and when I did it, it was probably the best decision I could have made. I had true peace, I was happy. It wasn't like work.”

Q: So what do you love about the culture of your barbershop?

Smith: “I don't feel like I'm a barber, if you will. I mean, I feel like I just talk to people for a living. I just happen to have clippers in my hand and they call me a barber and you make them look good. A barbershop is a man's country club, if you will, and nothing is off limits for the most part. We talk about some of everything. Great sports conversations, man. We talk about family vacations, jobs. It is unlike anything else. It is the heartbeat of the community.”

“They come to the barbershop, and they can hang out and feel comfortable and talk about anything. And I know for you here at Gee’s Clippers, it's super intentional that people feel welcome to be here and can just come and get a good haircut, but also maybe learn, be uplifted, be inspired.”

Q: Has it been fun to be a part of the re-imagining of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

Smith: “Extremely fun. There’s so much going on. A lot of tourism takes place here. When individuals come visit the city of Milwaukee, you would not believe the amount of people that come through here. They say, ‘I don’t need a haircut, but I just heard about this place and want to see what you guys are doing.’ They talk about the architectural design. It’s a big honor to just own a business on this street.”

Q: So much happens here every day. There's a lot of people in and out. Is there a particular person or experience that you've had with a customer where you know that it has been a positive experience and maybe even life changing for them?

Smith: “Without a doubt, this one moment stands out to me. I have a health clinic in the barbershop, one of the first in the country to have an actual health clinic. I decided to do the clinic because my dad died at 62 from colon cancer. In the health clinic, I try to education and inform individuals on their numbers. And this guy, who I had been cutting his hair for maybe 15 or 20 years, I had a conversation with him and found out he hadn’t gotten a prostate or colon exam and he’s maybe 62 at the time. 

“And I talked to him, he said, ‘why blah, blah, blah. I know I’m good.’ At any rate, he ended up getting his prostate exam because I had told him and it came back that he had stage 2 prostate cancer. He went and had his surgery and now he’s here today. That was about four years ago and he is so thankful. When I tell you that’s what the barbershop is all about, that shows it helping the community in every way we possibly can. We are here more than just to help the community look good.”

Q: I think somebody like you, there's always something that you're thinking of on the horizon. What are some of the bigger dreams? 

Smith: “Well, I mean I can go one to two years. I really want to start a barber college. I want to be a part of putting the next generation of barbers out there equipped, really understanding what's the calling on their life, really let them know exactly what they chose to do for a career. It's more than just to make people look good. So definitely the hair college, the barber college, but also a hair product line. I would like to do a hair product line as well.”