Coming soon to Front Street in Poulsbo is an old-school barbershop with some new-age flair, Timeless Cuts.

“This has been many, many years in the making,” owner and lead barber Mike Perry said. “It’s a traditional barbershop and what I am trying to do is continue the traditions of what people think of traditional barbering, with a straight razor shave, hot towels … not just an ‘in and out’ experience. A place where you are actually taken care of and the individual gets the barber’s attention.”

The barbershop is set to have its grand opening May 8. The aim of Timeless Cuts is to provide a more high-end service than the average strip-mall barbershop.

“I want people to feel like when they step inside the barbershop to feel like they’re, in some ways, stepping back in time,” Perry said.

Perry described the barbershop, located two doors down from Sluys Bakery, as having a classic and clean look with an added edge in that it will include local art.

“I want to feature local artists, I have a photographer that I’m going to feature their work in there, which is going to be part of our decor, and I’m eliciting the help of a local tattoo artist to do some watercolor paintings. I want to keep this all as community-based as I can.” Perry said.

Perry earned his barbering chops, first in the U.S. Marines, then later through a traditional barber school after a long career in law enforcement.

“My barbering roots go back to high school actually, typical buzzing my buddies hair on the football team, adding designs in their hair just for fun. When I got into the Marine Corp. I wasn’t a barber by trade I was an infantryman, but I became the barrack’s barber. It seems like every unit and every branch of the military has one…and it was all trial and error,” Perry said.

The connections Perry built with his clients and the artistry that goes with barbering is what inspired him to turn it into a career after leaving law enforcement.

“I was dealing with a lot of post traumatic stress, and at the end of 17 years, I couldn’t take it anymore. I was now a husband and a father, and it was really affecting who I was as an individual, and it was robbing me of my joy,” Perry explained. “For me, barbering isn’t just a job it’s an art form, and it’s truly something that when you get really good at it you really have to care about what you’re doing and pay attention to the details.”

Perry’s wife pushed him to go to barber school and eventually start his own businesses. His work can be seen at Timeless Cuts Barber Co. & Provisions on Facebook or Instagram.

Perry and his family moved to Poulsbo in fall of 2020 due to the immense pressure placed on California residents to adhere to COVID-19 protocols.

“Everything was going really well, my clientele was building, I was in a rhythm and then all of a sudden, this invisible thing called COVID-19 came along, and it just shut us down in California.

“The beauty industry especially was just decimated for quite a while, and with no light at the end of the tunnel, even when we could open up we were so limited, and it placed us in such fear of doing our jobs that a lot of people actually quit the industry,” Perry said.

He has been working at various barbershops across Kitsap County, so when the opportunity came up for him to purchase a property on Front Street in Poulsbo, he jumped on it.

“One day I saw that somebody was selling their salon in North Kitsap. I did a little bit of research and found out that it was the salon two doors down from Sluys … so I discussed it with my wife, and we decided this was something we could take on.

“We wrote a letter about who we are as a family wanting to open up a family run, veteran-owned business, and whatever it was that we said and did, the owner accepted our offer,” Perry said.