WASHINGTON — As COVID-19 lockdowns shuttered businesses across the nation in early 2020, West Wing aides began to sidle off into a downstairs bathroom in the next-door Eisenhower Executive Office Building — for appointments with a black-market barber, The Post has learned.
With barbers across downtown Washington closed under local orders, the underground operation kept then-President Donald Trump’s staff looking their best as they battled a once-in-a-century pandemic.
The service was so popular that the Trump White House re-established an official barbershop after years without one — and it appears the Biden administration has kept it around.
The initial secret operation — a source of intrigue and humor among Trump’s staff — employed a female Asian-American duo that sources say were recommended to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ wife, Debbie Meadows, by the wife of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). Four former White House aides said Meadows’ role in establishing the speakeasy coiffeur was widely known to his staff.
“Jim Jordan’s wife introduced them to Debbie Meadows and then Mark got the idea to bring them in during the pandemic,” a former White House official told The Post.
“[Meadows] said he was bringing in this lady to cut hair [and] told people to email Beau [Harrison] to book an appointment.” Harrison worked as an assistant to the president for operations and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A different former White House official confirmed that Meadows “had his personal barber go to the EEOB and do it [and] had people schedule it through the [operations] shop.”
The service was a hit, especially among young men in the White House. One of the women operating out of the bathroom workspace cut hair. The other handled snacks and payment — which could amount to $60 or $70 with tip included.
The assistant would insist on photos with nearly all of the customers, flattering them by declaring they were political celebrities.
“I’m sure they would have agreed to style women, though it was definitely targeted to the male staffers. I can’t say for sure if any women ever went,” the first former White House aide said.
The success of the unofficial system gave momentum to inking a permanent in-house barber by fall 2020, and the deal went to the nearby Wall’s Barber Shop, which was frequented by White House staff before it was forced to close by the pandemic. An asbestos removal project in the building it formerly occupied has jeopardized its reopening.
Read More: COVID-19 and a secret haircut club brought back the WH barbershop