People
WINN CLAYBAUGH
INTERVIEWS
DARRIN LYONS,
MASTER BARBER
“The barber of choice for rap music’s biggest icons, Tupac and Biggie” and “a one-man
Wikipedia of barbering knowledge and business savvy” are just two of the phrases used
to describe Master Barber Darrin Lyons, better
known as DL. He’s been barbering since the age
of 19 when he went out on his own and set up
his first barber shop called Tangles and Locks in
Pasadena, California. He also motivates others
to achieve their dreams and even put his mother through college, where she became one of
the oldest valedictorians to graduate from the
school. DL was recently a guest on the Master’s
Audio Club where he spoke with our friend,
Winn Claybaugh, dean and cofounder of the
Paul Mitchell Schools about creating a wealthy
and balanced life.
Lyons got his start at a very young age, and he
had a lot of great advice from his over 30 year
career. He told Clay, “I would say failure is success because the more you fall down, if you get
back up, you’ll eventually win. But when you
choose not to even try, then what you end up
doing is failing the whole way through. It’s almost like
saying, ‘I want to win,’ but you are not even going to sign
up for the race.”
Lyons may know a little bit about failure, but he also
knows about success. He explained how he became the
barber to some of the biggest rap names in the business.
“ …[B]efore I even got out of barber school, I was doing
celebrities like Big Daddy Kane, Rob Base. You know,
all these countless type of rappers. And I came out at
the perfect time. I came out in the perfect storm, if you
will. I was young, the rap industry just like really took
off. MTV just put rap on TV. And so all of these rappers
would come to LA or Hollywood to sign their deals and
so they would walk that Hollywood Walk of Fame with
the stars on the ground…Well, I just so happened to work
on Hollywood Boulevard in Las Palmas.” He continued,
“So all of these rappers—young rappers who didn’t have
any money but they were big, you know, in the industry
already—happened to see me and then it was like, ‘Yo,
could you cut a New York in my hair?’ ‘Oh, yeah. Dude,
can I? I’m not gonna go cut a New York in your head, but
I’m gonna cut the Twin Towers with a plane flying over it
and the sun rising and color the sun rise.’”
To listen to the entire interview you can visit mastersaudioclub.com.
About MASTERS Audio Club
The monthly MASTERS audio program features interviews, success secrets, and business-building presentations by the absolute best leaders in and out of the beauty
industry. With subscribers in countries around the world,
MASTERS boasts the most complete library and history of what makes the beauty industry great. Founded in
1995, MASTERS lets you hear the actual voices of your
favorite artists, educators, and mentors as they tell their
own stories and share their amazing wisdom for success. Winn Claybaugh, founder and host of MASTERS
Audio Club, has interviewed over 400 industry icons for
MASTERS to date, including NAHA winners, best-selling
authors, major manufacturers, distributors, salon owners
and stylists, makeup artists, and more. The MASTERS
roster includes luminaries like Vidal Sassoon, Yosh Toya,
Sam Brocato, Robert Lobetta, Ruth Roche, Vivienne
Mackinder, and Robert Cromeans, to name just a few.
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