If you want the same cut as Travis Kelce, you’ll have to fork over $1,000 — and that’s not including the cross-country flight.
But that’s the price to pay for a meticulously crafted fade by Patrick Regan, better known by his Instagram handle @patty_cuts, who has buzzed the heads of many sports greats.
“In my room, I used to cut out magazines of all the players and put them on my walls — I’ve been such a big fan of sports for so long and admire these guys,” Regan, a 35-year-old traveling barber, told The Post.
Reminiscing on his younger years, it’s now surreal for Regan to be not just rubbing elbows but hanging in the homes of his idols while trimming their hair; His star-studded roster includes UFC fighters, Sean “Diddy” Combs and, of course, Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end.
“It’s really cool to see the other side of it,” he said. “Like, I’m friends with that best player now.”
And since Kelce’s high-profile relationship with Taylor Swift is all anyone could talk about, the Super Bowl-bound NFL star’s influence has no bounds. His haircut has recently taken barbershops by storm, turning into something like the “Rachel” cut women dreamed of during Jennifer Aniston’s “Friends” heyday.
“It’s cool to see everyone now asking for [Kelce’s haircut],” Regan said, adding that it’s indicative of the football star’s “icon” status. “I have barbers that message me…’Hey, someone just came in and showed a picture of your haircut on Travis for me to do.’ And I can’t tell you how many times I got those messages.”
With all eyes on Kelce, the stakes are high for Regan; hair is part of a person’s image, especially for someone regularly on national television for, say, the Super Bowl.
Thinking back to his first celebrity client, Hall of Fame inductee and former Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis, Regan said he used to be “really nervous.”
“I always just wanted to do the best possible work because I know that work is going to be seen forever because they’re on TV, they’re on social media and stuff like that,” said the Philadelphia native.
Regan, now based in Florida, got his start barbering as a preteen, practicing on himself in the mirror before trying the clippers on his friends, and, soon, the entire neighborhood.
“I had lines coming through my door to my basement,” he remembered. “So, God bless my mom and my dad for letting all these random kids come in the house.”
He never dreamed, though, that his high school side hustle would blossom into a full-time career.
Regan dropped out of college after his father died, traveling “down the wrong path with drugs and alcohol,” landing in a Florida rehabilitation center. Later, he worked in a pizza shop, where he was “miserable.” Just over a decade ago, he chose to attend barber school and never looked back.
But his seemingly glitzy gig as a high-profile barber didn’t fall into his lap. It took years to build a following on social media: He emptied his life savings on professional-grade camera equipment to document his work and learned how to grab the attention of his dream clientele with a catchy opening line in the DMs.
“Best barber in Miami,” his message requests would read in the hopes of catching someone’s curious eye — and it worked, specifically with Revis, who “changed everything” for Regan, building his customer base through word of mouth. He was introduced the barber to former New Orleans Saints running back, Mark Ingram, and eventually connected with Kelce online about six years ago.
Once they’re in his chair, though, Regan had to keep them coming back. The key? “Building the trust” and going the extra mile, like freshening up Kelce’s cut as early as 6 a.m. some days, well before he was officially open for business.
“I know a lot about these guys’ backgrounds that I was cutting, so it helps me kind of connect with them a little more,” explained Regan, who has the logos of Philly’s local sports teams tattooed on his arm. “But the main thing is they want to feel comfortable around you.”
He added: “It’s not just a haircut, but [also] being a good person.”
His etiquette has taken him a long way — all the way to the Super Bowl, that is.
He’ll be at the Las Vegas showdown between the Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers next month to keep Kelce camera-ready, and the tight end is just one of the many clients who book a house call.
Every Friday, Regan flies to Kansas City to give Kelce a trim, as captured by Swift on occasion, but the pair aren’t gossiping about their love lives — they’re hanging out like old friends, playing darts and Regan even stays overnight.
He’s grateful, he said, for the many players who have now become “such close friends.”
“It’s something that I love being a part of,” said Regan. “It’s not really just like making the money, it’s more about the experiences.”
And it can all be traced back to a bold risk and a leap of faith: Pressing send on a message to a renowned athlete who dared to take a chance on a barber from humble beginnings.
“It just goes to show you only need to get one person to change your life and your career,” he said.
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