By: Egypt Page
Alexes Bernier, better known as “Lex for the Flex” to her costumers and her peers, has been taking risks and chasing her dreams.
Bernier is a SUNY Brockport Alumni, Class of 2019. Bernier is an aspiring female barber out of the Bronx. She started cutting hair at the age of 13 and has been doing so for almost eight years, in a male dominated industry. While also gaining a large following for her great haircutting ability and skill, she has taken a few risks to get where she is now.
Unlike regular barbershops, “Lavieon Cuts” (Bernier’s Brand) is a solo act. There are no other workers and Bernier is the only one doing the work. She is on the go with travel appointments and currently has her own space in New York City for in-shop bookings.
But at one point, Bernier didn’t see this line of work in her future. She just didn’t know if the line of work was meant for her. Until one day, she had an epiphany.
“It was my senior year and me and my roommates had just signed the lease for our apartment.” said Bernier.
“Me and my friend Rell had applied for Grad School (Graduate School), and I had gotten accepted and everything. We were both talking about what we were going to do moving forward. I basically just said I can’t move forward living this life. I don’t want to be a PE teacher. I basically said I want to be a barber. It was honestly the biggest relief I had ever felt saying something that was so true to me.” said Bernier.
For Bernier it’s all about ‘chasing your dreams’ and sticking to it.
Bernier said she started cutting hair at the age of 11 years old. She was infatuated with watching YouTube videos about cutting hair. So, she started cutting hair more frequently. At one point she even used her friends as test subjects. She realized and so did some of her peers, that she might have potential.
“It was hard. I was the first female barber on campus and the first female barber for a lot of young men in their lives,” said Bernier.
“But once I started getting posted and my name tagged in videos of my work, and people backing me. Telling their friends in college. I started growing little by little, all the way up to my senior year. Every student, every new client who came through my chair felt a since of home. Especially the students from New York City,” said Bernier.
SUNY Brockport Senior, Nathaniel Berhane has been getting his hair cut by Bernier since his freshmen year of college and he thinks she’s the best in town:
“She just knows what to do. There is no one else like Lex. I’ve been going to her since my freshman year, and she’s always made me and anyone else I know feel welcome. She is honestly the best barber I’ve ever had in Brockport and back at home. For being a woman in a male populated business, that’s different,” said Berhane.
Bernier had made a name for herself for being the hottest barber in town over her college tenure. After cutting hair out of her dorms and off campus housing, she started taking being a barber more seriously after the 2019 COVID-19 pandemic.
“I didn’t realize it was my dream until the pandemic happened. That’s what helped me take a step into barbering more seriously. I was cutting out of my house back at home and I just felt I could get used to this,” said Bernier.
Bernier would not look back and started turning her dreams into reality. She bought her first space to cut hair in late 2020 and it is now open to the public. While also owning her own LLC “Lavieon Cuts”, she has expanded her clientele through Upstate New York, all the way to New York City. Bernier still finds time to come up to SUNY Brockport and cut students hair. She still has many goals in place and hopes to leave a lasting impression on every costumer.
“A lot of young men don’t have that like female type of figure, to just speak to. My end goal is to be that person for the male community. Whether they’re black, Caribbean, Asian or white it doesn’t matter. If I can continue to provide a safe space and give them an experience they never had before. That’d be a good accomplishment for me.” said Bernier.
