Everything seems to be working out for Meddy Makanga, aka Meddexx. As a barber, he has been able to style numerous celebrities, in addition to becoming an icon on social media. Despite his successes, he does not forget his origins and takes advantage of his platform to give back. Portrait.
Sitting in his hair salon next to his chair, Meddexx is easily distracted by the hustle and bustle that reigns around him on this Friday morning. Several young professionals and aspiring barbers, whom he has taken under his wing, welcome their first clients of the day to the barbershop located in Longueuil. Sleek, with a cheerful voice and a joking tone, Meddy is an authority figure for his protegés.
“A phrase that I like is that you have to give before you receive. One of my goals is to be able to help and use my resources to give back,” he explains.
He therefore takes the time to talk with young people and to give advice, in addition to organizing activities in parks from time to time, including free cuts.
As a teenager during an event he organized in a park where he had his bike stolen, Mr. Makanga quickly mobilized his social networks to help him. “Helping someone is a habit that you build. If, with $10, you're not able to do it, you're not going to be able to help when you have $1 million,” he philosophizes.
Recently, he also visited a residence for seniors to offer free cuts to seniors. An initiative that he intends to repeat.
Raoul is one of the young people who benefit from his lessons. He worked at the salon, while studying accounting at Cégep Édouard-Montpetit.
“It shows us the way forward. It's not just for hairstyling, but also for customer service, entrepreneurship, and personal development. He is an inspiration,” he explains. In the room, his young colleagues approve.
“If a young person has time on his hands, he will try to fill that with other activities. With bad friends, he will want to do stupid things. By putting him here, it doesn't give him time to do anything else, and it also allows him to value himself”, explains Meddexx.
His popularity on social networks ensures that he has a certain influence on young people. More than 150,000 people follow him on Instagram, and over 650,000 on TikTok, where he stood out thanks to his short dynamic videos.
In these, he stages himself as he combs the hair of voluntary customers. These videos have managed to reach a large audience due to their originality and dynamism.
Growing up between Brazzaville and Montreal
After growing up in Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville, Meddy Makanga left his native Congo at the age of 14 to settle in Montreal, where his parents had already lived for four years. His father, Médard Makanga, a former sprinter who participated in the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992, moved here at the end of his professional career in order to be able to offer more opportunities to his family.
“He travelled a lot around the world, but when he arrived in Canada, he liked the country and decided to move there,” summarizes Meddexx. However, for the adolescent that he was then, the adjustment was not easy.
“In Africa, we have a different way of living and acting. You greet the strangers out there. The people in the neighborhood are family. At home, you can hold your guy friend by the hand, walk together, and there's nothing. But when you get here, people will react,” he gives as an example.
The education system was also very different, which at first caused him to feel insecure. “Over time, by achieving myself and doing little thing after little thing, I gained confidence. But it was a very difficult start,” he reveals.
Becoming the celebrity barber
“I think hairstyling has made me who I am right now. I was shy and withdrawn, but by doing my hair I learned to express myself. The slightly funny side that I have, I was able to develop in a living room”, confides Mr. Makanga.
According to him, it was his decision to start posting videos on YouTube and then on Instagram, and sharing his work there, that changed the situation, allowing him to receive positive comments and gain confidence.
“At first it was very niche, but over time I got better. It is by creating that we become creative. When creating, it's often accidental. Something is happening that gives an unexpected result,” he says.
A client working in events put him in contact with the Franco-Congolese singer Gims. Since then, he has also had the chance to style NLE Choppa, Dadju, Tayc, Josh Segarra, and Georges Saint-Pierre, among other celebrities.
“I am thankful. My head is not swollen. It's true that it can affect the ego, but I try to keep my feet on the ground. In the end, it's good, it's good for the portfolio, but it's not a star that will change the career. It's more the accumulation of work,” he believes.
“Young people often want to go too fast and style celebrities quickly, believing that's what will make them popular. That is the mistake they are making. The videos where I do celebrity hair are the ones I get the fewest views for,” he adds.
His work was also noticed south of the border, and Hollywood knocked on his door a few times.
“I said it! I wanted to do actors. After I returned to Montreal, a hairdresser from the United States wrote to me out of nowhere to tell me that one of his clients was coming to shoot a movie here. I don't know by what magic! I didn't know him from Eve or Adam,” reveals Meddexx, still excited when recounting this memory.
His work on the series Sarah's Republic opened doors for him in the world of cinema, and other projects followed, including participation in the filming of the film Scream 6. The whole thing culminated last year when his name ended up in the credits of the last movie of the series Transformers — The Rise of the Beasts —, during which he styled Anthony Ramos, the movie's star.
“It's incredible,” he exclaims, his eyes sparkling. "I said to my dad, 'Look, your name is engraved for life!' And there he was, like, 'But I was a professional athlete. No need for that!'” he says with a burst of laughter.
A career choice
Despite his successes, he admits that it was “by accident” that he became a barber — even though the profession has always intrigued him.
“My dad did my hair, but he didn't do it enough for me. At some point in my life, in, I wanted to be clean. I started to take the mower and trace myself. My friends noticed it, and I started styling them too,” he recalls.
Still studying, he looked for a small job. “African parents don't know what pocket money is. You have to work for it! ” he laughs. Finding no work, he offered his services to the owner of a hairdressing salon near his home, in the Hochelaga district of Montreal, and they accepted.
However, it was in Quebec that he opened his first salon, after moving there to get closer to his girlfriend at the time and follow a college program in computer programming.
“To my parents, I just told them that I was going to continue my studies there. There are times in life when it's better to say nothing,” Meddexx laughs.
He finally stayed in the Capitale-Nationale for five years, returning to the metropolitan region at the start of the pandemic, where his career definitely took off.
“I found that I had reached a plateau in Quebec and that I was no longer evolving," he confides. "I didn't know anyone when I arrived, I wasn't good at social media yet, but with creativity I was able to find ways to stand out.”
Today, he is quite satisfied with how far he has come since his beginnings, his journey having taken him to heights he never dreamed of reaching.
“I am grateful, I don't take anything for granted,” adds Mr. Makanga humbly. In the future, he hopes to be able to continue his momentum and open other barbershops, as well as an online hairdressing school. He also wants to be able to continue giving back to the community.