Internationally Trained, Rooted in Canada
The story behind the barber who went to Ottawa.
At the age of 12, Calvin Isaac Maltin spent the summer in the cab of his dad’s truck, hauling freight across America. It was fun, he remembers. Especially when the air conditioning broke down in the desert, near Death Valley, California and they bought bags of ice to keep cool.
Fast forward a couple of decades. The Freedom Convoy is rolling through Alberta on the Trans-Canada highway near Medicine Hat. Calvin and his father “drove out past Redcliff, and we watched it go by,” he remembers. “And the second it went by, it just clicked in my head. There was no way I was not gonna be there. My dad said he could see it in my eyes, in my face.”
Calvin was 31 by then, and a successful small business owner. During his twenties, he’d trained as a barber in some of the world’s most prestigious locales. Along with intermittent stints in LA and Vancouver, he spent more than two years in Australia and another three in Banff. “It’s an international airport,” he explains. “Honestly, the whole world goes to Banff. It’s no joke.”
In 2018, Calvin turned some tired Medicine Hat retail space into a vibrant, eclectic barber shop that specializes in tailored cuts. ‘Classic style, timeless looks,’ say the shop’s promo materials. Called Isaac’s, after his middle name, it sells curated hair care products along with bottles of gluten free BBQ sauce.
A recycled pew from a local church provides seating for customers waiting their turn. The work stations were custom built by Calvin. His team expanded quickly. Soon, two other barbers were working with him, and he was recruiting a third by offering a $500 signing bonus. In March 2020, the shop moved to a new location on South Railway Street. The pandemic hit that month. Later that year, Calvin hired an out-of-work tattoo artist to hand paint a sign above the door. A bit later, another artist painted a mural on a long interior wall.
Calvin is the grandson of the late Bert Maltin, recognized by the city of Medicine Hat for his contribution to community athletics. Two baseball diamonds are named after Bert. Well before the Freedom Convoy, Isaac’s Barber Shop participated in charity events, and urged people to venerate Canada’s war veterans.
Calvin hopes to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps, he says, by being an engaged, positive, and productive member of the community.
next installment: Bugles from Heaven
