I whakaputahia tēnei ātikara e RNZ.
Despite having just turned 14, Naia Talakai is racking up the haircuts, working 6 days a week at Ōtara town centre.
He does his homework on the train to school as he is in the barbershop for a couple of hours every evening from Monday to Friday.
Saturday is Talakai’s busiest day of the week due to foot traffic from the famous Ōtara markets.
“A lot of people just walk by, and when they see the cheap prices and they gotta stop by and give it a go,” he said.
Talakai charges $20 for a cut and operates out of a modified shipping container run by House of Hustlers.
It is a programme designed to foster entrepreneurship in Ōtara and is one of several initiatives operated by the community builders NZ trust.
“We’ve got kaupapa like the Pātaka Kai,” chief executive Terangi Parima said.
“It’s open 24 hours a day, 24-7. That initiative is really about food rescue and sharing. And that stems off the food insecurity Issues that we’ve had here in our community. So a community response to a community need.”
Other programmes include a community garden, a mobile bike hub, and a street safety scheme, while a carving school is just starting up.
Talakai was part of the trust’s youth collective, and while volunteering on the Ōtara Christmas lights, asked Terangi if he could start barbering at House of Hustlers. He passed a trial which involved cutting his brother’s hair and is now signed off.
“We’ve given him the space to grow and the platforms to expose his mahi,” Parima said.
Talakai said he was appreciative of Parima’s support and that she was like a sister to him - albeit a sister with high standards, especially when it came to keeping the barbershop clean.
“The standard for this space is excellent,” he said.
Before starting at House of Hustlers, Talakai had already been honing his skills for several years, cutting his grandfather’s hair before church on Sunday mornings.
“It was always fun to cut his hair; he always left with a smile on his face,” said Talakai.
After his Grandfather passed away, Talakai decided cutting hair would be a good way to find some work
“I remembered his pair of clippers sitting in my room” he says.
Talakai takes his craft just as seriously now that he’s cutting hair for money “sometimes my clients think I’m nosy,” he said, " but I just I tell them what suits their head shape and head type hairstyle".
“But at the same time, always gotta satisfy the customer.”
And cutting hair isn’t the only part of being a barber; there’s the art of conversation.
“I always like the chatty people, so it’s not just awkward silence while I cut,” he said.
If any of those awkward silences creep in, there’s nothing like the price of petrol to get conversation flowing again.
“It’s always the oldies talking about that one,” Talakai said with a laugh.
He is now working on building up a regular clientele and hopes to open his own barber shop in the future.
Nā Ross McNaughton nō RNZ.
