IN THE CUT: Black men’s mental health, evolving masculinity & the barbershop
In the Cut is Groundation’s flagship programme for Black men’s mental health, bringing live barbering and facilitated conversation to community spaces, universities, festivals and workplaces.
We deliver pop-up barbershops with free haircuts, live panels and filmed podcast-style events exploring mental health, evolving masculinity, relationships and collective care.
Pop-up barbershops
Free haircuts from skilled barbers, alongside informal conversation and community connection.
Live panels
Facilitated conversations in front of an audience, with a barber cutting panellists’ hair as the discussion unfolds.
Live podcast events
Filmed conversations bringing together community voices and invited guests to explore mental health, masculinity, relationships and care.
RECENT EVENTS
-
![]()
In the Cut x Decoded Live Podcast
A filmed, intergenerational live podcast event bringing barbering and conversation together to explore Black men’s mental health, masculinity and community care. Through thoughtful facilitation, we made space for difficult conversations about accountability, harm and social structures, including the experiences and perspectives of women and mothers.
-
![]()
IN THE CUT: Cross The Wires Festival
For two consecutive years, In the Cut brought the Black barbershop to Cross The Wires Festival through a live panel exploring Black men’s mental health, masculinity and community care. Audiences watched the conversation unfold as a barber cut panellists’ hair, bringing the craft and conversation of the barbershop onto the festival stage.
-
![]()
IN THE CUT: Pop-up Black Barbershop
Our annual pop-up at the University of Sheffield offers students free haircuts from skilled barbers alongside guest speakers. Rooted in the familiarity of the Black barbershop, it creates a welcoming space for Black students to come together, talk about everyday life and build community at university.
MORE THAN A TRIM
In the Cut brings free haircuts and honest conversations about Black men’s mental health, masculinity and relationships into community spaces, universities, festivals and workplaces.
We celebrate the Black barbershop’s culture and connections while questioning the pressures, expectations and inequalities it can also reflect.
Through pop-ups and live conversations, we bring generations together to explore vulnerability, care and accountability, centring Black men while welcoming women, families and wider communities.
OUR APPROACH
-
We centre Black men’s experiences while recognising that their lives are interconnected to women, families and wider communities. We explore how relationships and social structures shape mental health, making room for intergenerational dialogue and the perspectives of women and mothers.
-
We bring the Black community together for honest conversation, connection and collective healing. Building on the culture and relationships held within Black barbershops, we create space to listen, share experiences, explore vulnerability and acknowledge harm. Reflecting on our responsibilities to ourselves and one another, and how we can heal together.
-
We create space to question inherited expectations of manhood and explore how masculinity can evolve. Our conversations invite reflection on strength, vulnerability, relationships and accountability, opening up possibilities for ways of being that support individual and collective wellbeing.
GET INVOLVED
Bring In the Cut to your community, institution or festival. We work with partners to shape events combining live barbering and facilitated conversation around their setting and audience.
Support through funding or sponsorship helps us pay barbers and facilitators and reach more people.
Get in touch to discuss hosting, collaboration or supporting the programme.