GULFPORT, Miss. – For sailors looking to maintain a clean-cut, professional image, there’s no better spot in the state of Mississippi than the barber shop at the Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport, and no better barber than Hakeem Washington.

Just ask Washington himself.

“Man, I gets all kinds of raggedy-looking fools walking up in this biz, and when I’m through, you ain’t even gonna recognize the hard-charging, steely-eyed killers that walk out that door,” boasts Washington, a certified cosmetic follicle technician who learned his trade by shaving dogs at a local veterinary clinic.

“What can I do for you today?” he asks, addressing a customer. “Do you want a high and tight, or a high and tight?”