If You Hang Around The Barbershop Long Enough Sooner Or Later You’re Gonna Get a Haircut

In his Commencement Speech, Denzel Washington mentioned an old quote that grabbed my attention.

he said : there’s an old saying if you hang around the barbershop long enough sooner or later you’re gonna get a haircut.

The quote is not one of those quotes that you can guess the meaning easily. It needs some analysis.

If you hang around the barbershop long enough, sooner or later you’re gonna get a haircut.

This quote is often interpreted as: if you spend enough time in a particular environment or with a certain group of people, you’re likely to adopt their behaviors or be influenced by their actions, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

However, i feel there is another meaning, that was the original intention of this quote, and which was lost with time. Getting a haircut is not the main point here, as almost all people sooner or later are going to get a haircut. I think the hidden sous-entendu original meaning was to get a free haircut.
If my assumption is correct, this changes entirely the meaning of the quote.

The meaning will become, if you hang with wealthy people, this wealth will trickle down to you. And this is indeed a valuable wisdom in life.