Mark-Jason Solofa, Men's Grooming

Mark-Jason Solofa, Men's Grooming "Mark-Jason Solofa, Men's Grooming" is Northern California's premier premium men's grooming lifestyl Meter rates are $1.50 per hour.
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Metered parking is available directly in front of the Parlor. Free parking however is available just around the corner on the cross street "Allston Way".

*Please note that there is NO PARKING on "Allston Way" on the first Friday of every month between 9am and 12pm.

11/24/2025

With so many new Barbers entering the trade over recent years without a pension for wanting to do straight razor shaves, it means that straight razor shaves are becoming less prevalent and aren’t as common practice in many Barbershops anymore.
I never thought that would be the case when I came into the trade almost 15 years ago, as all I wanted to do was to be able to do straight razor shaves often and well.
I knew there was talk when I first started how straight razor shaves became a concern during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980’s, but they made a return when the understanding of how the disease was transmitted became more wide spread knowledge. At least from there on after, straight razor shaving was still the corner stone of what Barbers prided themselves on as a service.
Now a greater percentage of Barbers won’t and can’t do a full straight razor shave and are quite content with not having to, this even includes some your favorite social media influencer Barbers too. So this parody of Barbers running away from a shave is no exaggeration.
Here’s to the all the Barbers out there that still love shaving, that don’t shy away from it, and even to the ones who strive to improve and get better at them (because at least you’re trying). We are the keepers of the Trade, and hopefully we’ll inspire more Barbers to follow our lead,…and not run from it….so shaves will always be part of what we do!

11/23/2025

And when your day is done at the Barbershop, and you’ve spent the entire day focusing on the needs of your clients, exerting positive vibes on them, keeping a positive and welcoming and hospital professional demeanor the entire time, and you’ve ensured that you have given the best possible service to each and everyone that sat in your chair for a service, then head on home in however fashion you care to because you’ve done your job and duties as a Barber the way that a Barber should.

11/22/2025

Firstly, no one owns a client,…clients are free to choose their Barber and follow their Barber of choice if they move on from one shop to another.
HOWEVER, it is ethically wrong for a Barber to go into a shop’s clientele list and just start pulling names and contact info at their own discretion to use for their own self gain.
In some instances such actions can bring legal repercussions.
If new clients come in to a Barbershop for the first time, they may choose to sit with one Barber exclusively or they may sit with whichever Barber is available. The question becomes when does a Barber “think” that a client becomes theirs to poach when it comes time to leave that shop?
This is my take. If a client comes in to the Barbershop based on advertising and promotions that the Owner has done, and is someone who sits with multiple Barbers, or sat with another Barber primarily before landing a few times in another’s chair, then they’re not a client to be blatantly poached.
If a client comes into the Barbershop because of a social media post that a Barber did to promote themself, or they’re a previous client from another shop, or they did sit “exclusively” with that Barber from day one regardless if it was the shop that enticed them in, then that’s their client.
Barbers today are too scared to put in the hard work when leaving a shop that they’ll steal information that’s not theirs to access, rather than build on their own merit and stand on their own two feet. I have no tolerance or sympathy for that.
If you’re a Barber whose active on social media, posting your work, handing out business cards, asking for referrals, then I’ll help you identify the names of clients in the database for you to use, or I’ll gladly tell clients where you’ve gone if they ask. But if you’ve been lazily sitting on your ass just feeding off of what’s been given to you, then you don’t deserve any help or leads.
Barbers, stop stealing and relying on others to set you up for the success that you yourself don’t even want to work for, because then it becomes success that you don’t deserve.
Earn your keep!

11/20/2025

If I had to name the greatest and most common offense committed by Barbers all around the world, it would be this…..pushing peoples hairlines back!!!!!
And you Barbers out there know damn well who you are too. STOP IT!!!!
Pushing a client’s front hairline or their neckline back, even marginally by millimeters, is an absolute travesty and looks horrible as it grow out. There’s nothing natural about that kind of haircut, nor is there anything professional about it either.
It’s my opinion that Barbers who push hairlines back are unskilled and unprofessional, because they have to force a haircut to look a certain way for their own self gratification and ego, regardless of how horrible the grow out will look on the client. And worse yet, they won’t tell the client of what they’re doing now how their haircut will grow out unnaturally (and uglier) within a few days.
Come on y’all, keep the hairlines natural!!! People are paying you for a good haircut that will grow out good too….not a haircut that will grow out looking like a kid that colored outside of the lines with a marker.

11/20/2025

Barbering was once a very prestigious trade, serving the grooming needs of Egyptian Pharaohs and royalty centuries ago. Barbers were once considered societies elite as surgeons and tonsotial artists.
Then came a time not too long ago when telling someone that you were a Barber was perceived as something you did as a hustle, almost as if you couldn’t sustain a career by only being a Barber.
Why the disconnect from what were to what we are now?
It’s not hard to see why when you look at how so many Barbers today don’t have respect for their Trade. Conducting themselves unprofessionally in their shops, out in public and across social media.
“It’s always your own people” is a common phrase used when there’s betrayal amongst your peers, and as an elder statesman of Barbering, it’s discouraging to see how much the public perception of us as Barbers is, in many places, still not considered honorable enough of a profession amongst the likes of such professions as doctors or lawyers or accountants.
I’m thankful for those in our Barbering community who still strive to uplift the trade, honoring the traditions that it was built on, and the values upon which it was built. Thank you to the Barbers who put a priority on service and community. Together we can try to hold the line and keep the reputation and credibility of your beloved Trade in tact while returning it to the level of respect it still deserves.

11/19/2025

That needle in the haystack Barbers!
The one that you as an Owner know immediately recognize as worth hiring because you see their potential for success even if they don’t see it or realize it yet themselves. They may have limited experience but they come with humility and respect and a demeanor that screams hard nose blue collar work ethic, and a drive to be the best version that they can be.
These Barbers are RARE and I’ll hire them over any “experienced tenured ego-driven 10 years in the trade with no clientele” Barber, any day of the week!!!

11/18/2025

When a client comes in with crazy long hair, and tells a Barber “I’m ready to cut it all off, it’s time for a change”, you’d think the Barber just turned into a Surgeon about to do a major operation, or an Artist about to start chiseling away at a slab of marble to create a masterpiece statue.
Transformation haircuts are fun to do, but often enough times the end result isn’t always exactly what the client was expecting. It’s not that their haircut is a bad one (although sometimes that are), but is more because the client is in a moment of shock after losing all the hair they’d been growing out forever. It was an investment in time for them to grow their hair for such a long period of time, so seeing themselves without it all for the first time will obviously take a moment for them to adjust to seeing.
The key as the Barber is to make sure the end result is something that was discussed with the client BEFORE the haircut starts so the client has some input on what they envision themselves looking like after it’s all done. That way they’ll have some general expectation and won’t be so caught off guard by 1) a big transition in general and 2) a haircut that doesn’t even work for them and their general everyday wear because you as the Barber just wanted to do what you wanted )which unfortunately is common practice in the trade today).
Don’t strive just to create shock and awe at the end of the haircut, because imposing your will as a Barber will certainly guarantee way more shock and far less awe.

11/17/2025

With the exception of working for my family’s insurance business back in American Samoa in the mid to late 90’s, I really didn’t care much for any other job I had before becoming a Barber.
The people were always cool, I’ve forged some amazing friendships at my past jobs that are still strong to this day!
My first job when I moved to California back in 2001 was for a mortgage company called Chase Home Equity. I didn’t know anything about mortgages, but at the time, interest rates were extremely low and everyone was buying or refinancing their homes….the market was insanely busy. I got a job as a Loan Processor, and was just thrown into the fire after a few days of training. My Account Executive whose files I had to manage, could never get a hold of me because I would be sitting in my cubicle overwhelmed with phone calls and emails like I’d never experienced ever before!
I used to sit in my car of that company’s parking lot every morning, just procrastinating until the very last minute before needing to go and clock in, just completely anxious and nauseated about having to endure the 8 hours of chaos that was to ensue.
I worked 17 years in corporate jobs before being laid off and making the decision to become a Barber, and it was the memories of jobs like that mortgage company and others where I was always expendable that motivated me to make sure that I didn’t fail at Barbering. If I could work as hard for myself as I did for big corporations, how could I possibly fail?
That is the mindset needed to succeed not just in Barbering but in any new career you set out to pursue. Don’t spend your life simply commuting, clocking in, and clocking out, and repeating that daily without joy or passion or purpose. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying the work that you do when others don’t, so long as you don’t regret the hours you spend there trading them for a regular paycheck. No job is worth losing your joy and sanity over, not even if that job is Barbering.

11/16/2025

Man if they aren’t taking your zero guard, they’re taking your clipper oil, your Kool Care clipper disinfectant, foil shaver or even your dang hand mirror!
Nothing is worse than a Barber who is never prepared, never has their own supplies, never has the right tools, and never has the decency to even ask permission to use another Barber’s stuff first before just taking it and not returning it.
These kinds of Barbers are simply leeches, and are the worst ones to have in any shop because they will always cut corners, will always be cheap, will never have integrity or respect, and are just lazy and dead weight.
While there is nothing wrong with asking permission from other Barbers to occasionally use something of theirs when you’ve just run out of your own stock, as long as you return the favor or return the gesture with some of yours once you’ve restocked then it works out. That’s the value of teamwork and building together.
But if you’re always the one taking, and taking, and taking, TRUST one day you will be dealt with, usually by being asked to go find another shop to go work at and leech off of. Don’t be that Barber!!!

11/16/2025

Barbering is a trade of feast or famine, and understanding the yearly cycles of busy and slow times and how to maximize your time during both cycles is imperative to your longevity and success in this Trade!! Optimizing your time instead of wasting it sitting around complaining that it’s slow when you’re not doing anything to promoted yourself is the attitude of an entitled Barber, expecting everything to be served up for them on a silver platter. They’re the same ones how’ll complain when it’s busy.
So many Barbers refuse to take accountability for own their success and failures, but the good news is that they’ll eventually fall off to the wayside and allow those with true grit for Barbering to keep persevering and prospering.

11/15/2025

Jealousy is an ugly look on people, as much as envy and greed are. And those are exactly the traits that Barbers exhibit when a client decides that they’d much rather sit with another Barber in the same shop.
Rather than being thankful that the client is at least still keeping their business in-house, a Barber will choose to pettily make a scene rather than take a minute to step back and ask themselves “why” that client is no longer sitting with them.
Heaven forbid it ever be a Barber’s fault that a client decides to sit with someone else, as a Barber’s ego can’t accept that. But the truth of the matter it could be a barrage of things, from a Barber always being late for their appointments, always running behind on their appointments, poor bedside manner when talking with clients, or it could just be that’s it’s the Barber’s schedule and unavailability that makes it more convenient for a client to sit with someone else.
I strongly encourage clients to sit with anyone on my team if I’m not available. Over the last decade, plenty or clients started with me, and ended up preferring to sit with one of my Barbers with regularity, and that’s ok because that should be the goal of any good Barbershop Owner…to build the clientele for the shop, not just themself.
There is plenty of business out there for every Barber to be able to eat, and being selfish, jealous, envious and petty is the work of a Barber’s ego and not the work of humility to be in service of others.

Address

3372 Village Drive
Castro Valley, CA
94546

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 6pm
Tuesday 10am - 6pm
Wednesday 10am - 6pm
Thursday 10am - 6pm
Friday 10am - 6pm
Saturday 9am - 2pm
Sunday 10am - 6pm

Telephone

(510) 859-8112

Website

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