Friendship with Chet Holmgren a lasting one for Twin Cities barber Meleyen Tengben

About eight years ago, Meleyen Tengben checked his Instagram direct message folder and saw a message from a freshman at Minnehaha Academy named Chet Holmgren.

Tengben is a barber who has started his own shop in Brooklyn Park (with a new location coming soon in Atlanta). He had been cutting the hair of Holmgren’s friend and teammate Jalen Suggs, and Holmgren was interested in working with him.

What Holmgren asked Tengben still makes him laugh today.

“He asked me, ‘Can you cut white hair?’ Like, Chet, what kind of question is that, man?” Tengben said.

After Holmgren told Tengben he usually gets his hair cut at a chain barbershop, Tengben told him, “You’re gonna love my haircut.”

So began a now eight-year friendship between Holmgren and Tengben, who has grown his business, Meleyen’s Sports Barbershop, in part through relationships he has had cutting hair for professional athletes. His client list includes Holmgren, Suggs and several current and former Timberwolves players and personnel including Naz Reid, Jaden McDaniels, Jaylen Nowell, Jarred Vanderbilt and incoming controlling owner Alex Rodriguez.

Tengben grew up in Minneapolis and attended Moler’s Barber School. His social media presence played a role in his career’s path. It led him from Suggs to Holmgren after Tengben posted his work with Suggs on Instagram.

As Holmgren has navigated his NBA career, Tengben has not just been a barber, but a friend, confidante and someone whom Holmgren trusts among his circle of close friends. Tengben will spend significant time in Oklahoma City hanging out with Holmgren in the middle of the season, with Tengben taking one of the guest bedrooms in Holmgren’s house. Their friendship is akin to a lot of friendships athletes have with their barbers; they become close friends, like family.

“I feel when you trust somebody to cut your hair, you got to trust them wholeheartedly,” Tengben said. “We’re a safe space for them. There’s never been client that hasn’t really, vented or just, like, told me personal information. I feel like we relate based off — it could be family issues. It could be anything. Issues with anything they got going on.”

He said and Holmgren clicked over their shared values, such as work ethic and giving back to their communities.

“It’s the things you may or may not see. … Chet makes sure to work out at least three times a day,” Tengben said. “Like, the way he lives, the nutrients he takes, bro, he’s a very serious person. Every time when I’m cutting his hair, he’s studying other players.”

With Holmgren in his first NBA Finals, he summoned Tengben to Oklahoma City before Game 2, and Tengben also cut his hair in Minnesota during the Western Conference finals. During a normal season, Tengben said he’d fly to cut Holmgren’s hair once a week.

As Tengben prepares to open a new shop in Atlanta, those visits have been less frequent this season, but in the playoffs, Tengben has been making sure Holmgren’s hair is where he wants it, so he can look good, feel good and play well.

During his stays with Holmgren during the season, Tengben said, there’s a lot of video game playing among him, Holmgren and other friends who are hanging out with them, in part because Holmgren doesn’t like to go out too much. His 7-1 frame doesn’t exactly make it easy for them to fly under the radar in public.

“We will play [NBA] 2K. I’ll be beating him in the game. He does not like that,” Tengben said. “And we’ll just go to little small mom-and-pop spots, go get some Chinese. Chet doesn’t really like to go out too much, because they be bothering them, right?

“But we’ll be in the house, we watch movies, we go in the backyard, but we just chill, honestly, bro. I feel we enjoy each other’s company, because we get to just chill, because we both be working so hard.”

That’s because Tengben’s work and connections have his businesses expanding — even internationally. Last summer, Tengben got a message on WhatsApp from someone asking for multiple haircuts. They were discreet in their messaging, and Tengben was wondering just who they were, but Tengben took the job. “I’m thinking it’s like a prank scammer,” he said.

He went to the designated location only to find the entire Chelsea soccer team waiting to get haircuts. They were in town on a U.S. friendly tour and needed cuts. They found Tengben’s page, and he admitted he wasn’t aware of how famous they were.

“At the end, they’re taking my Instagram, I’m taking their Instagram. They have 10 million followers, 20 million followers, so I’m like, ‘Hold on. I’m like, are y’all well known?’ They’re like, yeah, worldwide,” Tengben said.

The friendships he made that day have now given him a standing invitation anytime he wants to go to London and attend one of their games. But for now, there’s enough to tend to with one of his longest-standing clients in Oklahoma City, with Tengben doing his part to contribute to Holmgren’s dream of an NBA title.

“I always felt he was going to be special after that first haircut,” Tengben said.