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KIZZI

Not Your Average Barber

By Agent Morphe

September 23^rd, 2018

TRIGGER WARNING: This blog entry contains information about sexual ABUSE and/or violence which may be triggering to some people.

I started barbering at fourteen.

I actually fell into it. I never intended on being one, it just kinda happened.

I spent my childhood growing up in Darwin. Sometimes in Aboriginal communities, sometimes way out in the bush. Always digging around in the dirt.

I actually wanted to be an archaeologist & palaeontologist – that was my desire growing up. Dinosaurs, fuck yeah.

My parents didn’t have a whole lot, so we would breed yabbies in water tanks and sell them as fish bate. We lived in shipping containers for a majority of the time, but for a small period I lived in a tow trailer with a mattress, between two trees with a rope, a mosquito net and a tarp to stop the rain.

Although it sounds messed up, I have very fond memories of it, as I was close to nature and got to experience a true Aussie childhood. My mum did the best she could do as a single mum raising two girls.

When we moved to Melbourne, I was put into schools with kids that had never experienced anything like my childhood in Darwin, so therefore I was deemed weird and people generally stayed away from me. I was that kid that wore an Akubra, instead of your stock-standard wide brimmed school hat. I had a funny way of talking and was just an all-round weirdo; something I now pride myself on.

Entering my teen years was really hard, I couldn’t relate to any of the other teens and they just didn’t get me. I guess this is the reason I rebelled and didn’t want to be a part of it all.

My grandfather was diagnosed with cancer and was dying. That was the reason my mum moved us all from Darwin to Melbourne. So I spent a lot of time with him, and developed a very close fatherly figure relationship with him as I hadn’t had a proper father figure growing up.

Because he was so sick, when my grandmother went away for a week, they asked if I could stay with him because I was so close with him.

I spent a week with him, and he did wrong by me.

He made me get into bed with him one night. I was only twelve. I was very confused. I remember the whole scenario. I remember thinking surely it wasn’t anything sexual because he was my grandfather who loves me. Why would he do anything like that to me?

But I put it aside, I’m very good at doing that. I didn’t think about it and never spoke to anyone about it until I was nineteen when I confided in my mum.

I haven’t had contact with my grandfather for over ten years. He’s still alive. But he recently wrote a letter to each of his kids, apparently trying to make excuses for being such a bad man. My mum 'returned to sender'. I wished I read it.

When my uncle later asked him why we weren’t in contact, his first response was:

"If she tells you that it’s because I touched her, she’s a liar. I never touched that girl."

But at a recent family function he’s somehow admitted to what he did to me in front of the whole family. I wasn’t there and I don’t know what he said. But he listed a whole bunch of girls he’s done it to. I don’t know any of them. I'm not the only girl. But he’s included me in his list.

I'm not a victim.

I am a person that had a shit scenario put upon me years ago as a kid and I dealt with it. Everyone is different and deals with things their own way.

I am telling my story in hope that other girls that have been through similar scenarios will be empowered by it and realise that we are not owned or tarnished by our predators.

We are warriors. We can and will move on and achieve something bigger and better with our lives.

I STARTED MY CAREER AS A HAIRDRESSER.

But in reality, I probably wasn’t very good at it and didn’t particularly like the environment I was working in.

An opportunity came up with my boss’s old business partner who owned a barbershop and offered me a job there. I wasn’t 100% sold on the idea, but I wasn’t the normal seventeen-year-old as I was living out of home already and needed to pay rent.

He was 100% the best thing in my career. He taught me everything right from the get-go. Within six weeks of working with him, I ended up doing every single haircut until he decided my work was flawless.

By the time I was twenty-one, I was over barbering as it was really all I knew. And I had always enjoyed fashion. I worked for a fashion company for six months and then left on very bad terms with the manager. I was unemployed for a little while, trying to get back into fashion, and my husband was worried as we couldn’t afford to do it for much longer.

He saw an opening at Smith Street Barbershop and I desperately refused, saying I didn’t want to do that anymore, adamant that career was over. But he convinced me to do it part-time for cash so that we can at least keep above water.

So, I went in there, got the job and kind of fell in love with it again, and I’m still here.

Nearly eight years ago when I started at Smith Street Barber, I was cutting about four to seven haircuts a day. Now I’m the full-time manager for Sam who’s the owner; and I’m cutting twenty to thirty a day.

Sam is the third boss I’ve had at Smith Street, and I’d already been working there for four years when he came in.

And to be honest, Sam is the best boss I’ve ever had.

He recognised my hard work and put my pay up by $10/hr on the first day we were working together. And within the first month he made me manager. I was always managing the shop before, but Sam gave me the title.

A lot of female barbers have come up over the last few years.

In my whole career I’ve maybe worked with ten to twelve female barbers. But I do know that there are many in the industry trying to empower the female side of barbering. In the last two to three years, there has also been a shift where there are more women clients coming to the shop. Out of a thousand of my clients, I think fifty are women. And out of that fifty, fifteen are my personal clients.

Every time a woman walks into the store, we’re all a bit hesitant because we’re unsure as to whether or not they’re there to sell us a product as a rep, or that they’re someone’s partner, whereas when a guy walks in, we say 'g’day mate have a seat', and we know exactly what they’re there for.

There definitely are people that judge me as being a woman barber, but not my peers so much.

An older guy came into the shop and it was just the two of us (women) there that day. He asked whether there was anyone else working and we told him there wasn’t. He kept on asking "So there’s no men to cut my hair?" and we said no. My colleague asked him what the issue was, and he told us that women don’t know how to cut hair. So I told him I think he should probably go and find himself a man. And so he left.

Then forty minutes later he came back and said he guessed he’d have to have the two of us cut his hair because no one else could fit him in. I was so upset and said "nope, not happening with me mate" and walked off.

My colleague on the other hand said "of course sir" and gave him the best haircut she could possibly give him. I learnt something from her that day. I admired her so much for doing that.

From that day on, when he came in, he would only wait for one of the girls.

A lot of Clients that come to Smith Street wait in a queue to see me.

I think I’m a familiar face, I’ve been there a long time and they know that they’ll get a good quality haircut from me. I ’m passionate about it. I’m also passionate about meeting new people, finding out new stories. And I’m the best (laughing).

i love creating things.

I just know that I’ll do anything hands-on crafting. I’ve got my own brand called Fitzroy Beard, a men’s grooming product that I sell at the shop. I have also taught myself how to make clothes (pictured). I am aiming to have my clothes for sale online by the end of the year and sell them at local markets, along with tote bags and wallets.

I don’t believe I’m at the top of my game. I’m twenty-eight years old and I have a lifetime of learning ahead of me.

The Fitzroy Beard - Peppermint & Cedarwood

What I like most about my profession is the people.

I like learning from people because I left school so early. Up until four years ago, I always felt that I was one step behind most people. I felt that I hadn’t had the same education and missed all the stuff they learnt at school, and therefore didn’t understand what they would be discussing. I felt I wasn’t on the same level as them mentally. So everything I know now I’ve learnt from clients, not from going to school like everyone else.

What I like least about my profession is dirty people. Unhygienic people. I’m in the worst profession because I actually hate bodily fluids or human anything, and am quite the germaphobe. It’s weird. But the hygiene in Smith Street is very high.

Smith Street Barbershop Crew - in Action

Right now, at this current point, I wouldn't change anything at Smith Street, because I get to do whatever I feel necessary.

The most important things to me is that people will come in and do the best job they can do, but have fun doing it.

And at the moment I love it in there. We’re all having so much fun everyday.

Sam

I’ve owned Smith Street Barber just over four years now. Previously I worked in various barbershops in and around Melbourne.

I had a ladies and men’s hairdressing shop back in the eighties, but this is my first barbershop.

I have been working as a barber for thirty-two years now. I started as a hairdresser, but after three years I didn’t want hairdressing, so I got into barbering.

What I like most about my job is making people happy, giving them nice haircuts, making them feel good about themselves, making them look good. That’s very rewarding.

What I like least about it is the long hours and working on weekends.

What makes smith street barber different?

Is that our barbershop isn’t just catering for the hipsters in the area; we do everybody from little kids to women, to the old men. We don’t just cater for the top genres. I think that’s the difference between us and a lot of the barbershops in the area, which is good, I want to maintain that.

Kizzi is an amazing employee. She’s probably one of the best barbers that I’ve seen in thirty-two years, and that’s honest. She’s very creative, imaginative and innovative. Her attention to detail and enthusiasm is what makes Smith Street Barber what is it now. It’s all because of her. She’s awesome. I’m very lucky to have her.

I think it helps having a female barber in the shop. There’s a lot of women and men that are drawn to her. If there’s me standing around and Kizzi’s standing around, the men will go to her, they won’t go to me or the other boys.

We’ve picked up a lot of female customers because of her here. I’ve got friends of mine whose got barbershops that are just guys only, and they hardly get any women coming in there at all. They do, but not as many as we do.

CHRIS

I’ve been working as a barber for eight years now. Dropped out of high school, started hairdressing; hated hairdressing. Went back to school, got kicked out of school, then became a barber. And then that became the good thing that got me back on track.

I’ve only recently been working at Smith Street Barber for two and a half months.

Funny story, I wanted a job on my tram line, and one day I got on a tram and when I got off, I saw the barbershop. It all fell into place, the universe just made it happen.

I love barbering because I love talking to people. It’s creative work. I do a lot of creative stuff outside of work, and then to be able to say that my job is also creative, my whole life is creative, I don’t actually ‘work’, which is super cool. You can wear whatever you want, you can be yourself. It’s flexible.

I think being a barber isn’t really about gender anymore, it’s about the art of doing short hair very well.

What I love most about my job is the networking. I play music, so I meet a lot of the people that I work with through that, my job.

What I hate most is the hair.

This is a cool shop, it’s in Smith Street which is very convenient, it’s busy which is good. You don’t want to work somewhere that is not busy. You want to do stuff, talking to people. Day flies.

I’m definitely not an old school, traditional sort of barber. I’m definitely more like a ‘street barber’; I do fades, box ups, lines and tracks.

Malcolm

I’ve been working as a barber for about two years; and seven years as a hairdresser.

The reason I became a barber was because I wanted a change in the atmosphere. I feel like a barbershop is a bit more casual, a bit more personal, a bit like more community-based, as opposed to a hair salon which is what I’m used to.

I’ve been working in Smith Street Barber for about a month now.

I enjoy coming to work. I feel like I work with people that are very fun to work with. Everyone seems to always be in a good mood. No one is here trying to cause any drama. They just want to come here, do their job, talk some shit.

I did hairdressing straight out of high school. And I worked for a few years. I did some labouring work and some shavery work. I went back to uni and finished by commerce degree, I realised I wasn’t into it. And I went back to hair. So most of my career has been hair.

It’s a very good crew and a very good shop. I know I’ve only been here for a month, but the shop has a really good environment, it’s very chilled – and I think all the customers can understand that as well.

I think in some shops I feel like people are watching you 24/7, pressure pressure. But here, you can take your time, enjoy the work a bit more, so I quite like it. Plus it’s a cool spot, this area got a ton of stuff to do afterwards.