BANGOR - 22-year-old Braden DeTour loves being a barber.

“I just feel like there's not a lot of places right now where barbers actually love what they are doing, I think they kind of do it because they need a job and they know it will make them money, but they aren’t actually emotionally and physically invested in it,” said DeTour.

Barbers get to interact with people and forget their own problems he said. He spent seven months learning to become a barber at Capilo in Augusta. After training at Capilo and spending many hours cutting hair for five dollars, he moved to the workforce.

“I got out into my first job and was thrown into a place where every single barber in their was so much better than me, so I had to figure a way to make my own niche so I could pull my own clients in.”

After spending time in the workforce, DeTour said that he wanted to create his own path.

“It is cool to try to work on my own goal instead of someone else's,” he said.

Stay Gold Barbershop offers old-school barbering with a new-school look. The shop offers hot towels and straight razor shaves.

“I also want to do my own street style,” said Detour. “Anyone will be able to come in here and connect on it.”

The name “Stay Gold” comes from a Robert Frost poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” The novel “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton also played a role in the title. Both the poem and the novel speak to cherishing what you have, according to DeTour.

DeTour is the sole worker at Stay Gold; owning his own business comes with a lot of sacrifices.

“It is not as easy as just jumping in and doing it, there are a lot of sacrifices, money, hanging out with friends, being able to go out and do things, that's kind of been on the wayside for me because I am focused on my own thing and trying to get this big,” said DeTour

Owning a business is a struggle at first, but has been worth it.

“Eventually it will turn into something amazing and to watch you grow and build into your own person, your own shop is pretty cool, I never imagined it.” DeTour said.

Stay Gold is its own business, but eventually DeTour wants to own a few shops and maybe even start his own barber school.

“I eventually want to teach people how fun this is,” he said. “You are making people feel good every single day.”

He wants to see future barbers to be able to easily find a job after schooling. “I want to throw them to the fire and see if they can make it.”

DeTour is passionate about and confident in what he does.

“Come give me one shot,” DeTour said. “That’s all I need and after that I know they will be hooked. There is no one in Bangor that is doing exactly what I am doing and trained in exactly what I am trained in. I can say that with a lot of certainty.”

Stay Gold barbershop is located at 96 Harlow St. in downtown Bangor.