They came from opposite ends of world: she from Rio de Jainero, Brazil, population 6 million; he from Fort Kent, Maine, five hours north of Portland, population 4,000.

And they arrived for different reasons: she to support her sick sister in 1994; he to escape poverty brought on by a truckers’ strike during the winter of 1985-86.

But despite their wildly divergent paths, Cynthia and David Caron ultimately settled on the same calling.

To Cynthia, who initially aimed to become a nurse to help cancer patients like her sister, barbering offered an avenue to shower people with love without having to care for their medical needs. To David, the son of a chimney mason and the nephew of potato farmers, it was a trade that came with a sense of safety and predictability atypical of the Caron clan’s usual professional pursuits.

For both, barbering was a leap of faith. David was six years into what he had mapped out as a 10-year stint as a correctional officer at the state prison in Concord when he decided to shake things up.

In 1995, he found a barber shop for sale in Derry and offered to buy it from the owner on the spot.

“I went across the street, went to the bank, dropped credit cards on the counter, said ‘give me cash advances,’ and I went back and shook his hand,” David recalled. “But before I gave him the money, I said, ‘I got something to tell you: I’m not a barber yet.’”

David began to shuttle back and forth between barbering school in Maine, his new barber shop in Derry, and his job at the state prison in Concord. A year later, he bought up another barber shop on Park Street in Concord. With so many chairs to fill, he continued on in school to get his barber instructor license and began to supervise apprentices.

One day about a decade later, a woman with brown curly hair and a distinctive accent walked into his Concord barber shop, American Barber Studios.

“It’s been a dream of mine to become a barber. Would you apprentice me?” Cynthia asked.

By then, David had dealt with his share of flaky apprentices. He was through with the hassle and told Cynthia so.

Cynthia, though, was similarly fed up. For months, she had gone shop to shop asking for a chance to break into what was then a decidedly man’s world. American Barber Studios, she decided, was where she would put her foot down.

“For two months, I showed up every day at his barbershop at seven in the morning. And I just picked up the broom and answered the phone. I got them coffee, I got them lunch,” Cynthia said. “After two months of me showing up every single day, of him saying no, he finally gave in.”

At first the teacher and student were friends. But fairly quickly, they fell in love – a relationship they kept secret for two years, Cynthia said. In May 2009, they wed.

Now the Concord couple are both teachers at and co-owners of the New England Barbering School in Penacook, one of the only barber schools in New Hampshire.

Not only do they pass down their craft to students, but they also share it with their local community.

Twelve years ago, the school began providing free back-to-school cuts at Rundlett Middle School in Concord, a ritual they expanded to Merrimack Valley Middle School last year.

“Everybody deserves a great haircut,” Cynthia said. “To see how happy they are – the little fades and everything else – I just love that.”

Boscawen siblings Joel and Phoebe Jutras – he sporting a fade, she bangs – smiled widely as Cynthia finished off Phoebe’s cut last month. “Smell my head!” Joel urged his younger sister.

Back at the school, the Carons currently have six students, including at least one woman.

“It was extraordinary to gain a skill and pass it to other people and to show them – especially females – that we can do this,” Cynthia said. “Being from Brazil and now being here, and now I’m teaching a trade to the natives where they can go out there and earn money and make a living for themselves … At times it was like, no, this is not real.”

Those working toward a basic barbering license spend about six months at the school, while those obtaining a more advanced license spend 10. From day one, they participate in at least some aspects of customers’ haircuts.

“It might be just walking them to your chair, putting a cape on, combing their hair,” David said. “Believe it or not, it’s harder to teach somebody to get close to a person physically than it is how to cut hair.”

David is nearing 30 years as a barber, still relatively young in the old man’s world. Cynthia is at 22 years. Not only did the calling they settled upon bring them together, it also brought them into the lives of countless Concord-area families.

“You take a stranger that you’ve never known and you get to know them over the years,” David said. “They could be a little kid that’s screaming in a booster seat, and then all the sudden you ask if they got a girlfriend and they’re mad at you. … Then the next thing they’re getting married, and then they start  bringing in their own kids.”

“You become part of their life,” Cynthia said.

Jeremy Margolis can be contacted at jmargolis@cmonitor.com.