For Josh Pierce, cutting hair and shaving beards acts as physical therapy for his fingers.

Pierce, 28, has worked as a barber at Campus Cuts on Marshall Street for about a year, though he has been cutting hair since he was 18. With his mother and grandfather — who also cut hair — as inspiration, Pierce worked on and off as a barber on the side. When he was 21, he took a job as an HVAC technician and steamfitter, setting up pipes that carry gas for heating systems.

But in August of 2013, Pierce cut his arm on an old single pane glass window, severing his arm to the bone. The accident restricted him from his work, and Pierce then fell back on the trade he learned during his youth.

“It’s helped a lot because with my injury, I had a lot of nerve damage. I had three fingers that I had lost motion and feeling in,” Pierce said. “Using a clipper and razor on a daily basis has actually done therapy itself.”

Pierce began working at Campus Cuts when one of the barbers, Nick Brice, saw one of Pierce’s haircut designs. Brice was so impressed by it that he contacted Pierce through Facebook and offered him a job.

Pierce said people of all different races and ethnicities walk through the Campus Cuts door and place themselves in his chair. He’s had requests to create a handle bar mustache for a man who had long facial hair and wanted it to curl up, and more recently, to design and color the New England Patriots’ symbol on a customer’s head.

Said Pierce: “You meet people from all walks of life, and you interact with a ton of people. I’ve cut people’s hair who live in Dubai, Australia and especially being here, this is one of the most diverse barbershops in Syracuse because there are so many students.”