Charles Lomu

Every Thursday night, we'd take them through teaching them about the origins of barbering.

teaching them about the history of the trade and then also talking to them, teaching them about customer service and then into the actual craft of barbering.

And then after that six months that we took him through that training, we ended up hosting an exhibition at the local art centre in Blacktown and so these young guys had the opportunity to

start cutting hair for people in the community who came to sit in the chairs over a period of time.

I think it was like a couple of weeks or a month that we had that exhibition going.

So they were now able to take everything that they learned in that six months and now put it into practice with people they'd never met before.

So out of that original five years,

One guy in particular, he was the one that probably was unsure of why he was there in the start.

When we interviewed the original five, I remember this guy named Kiko.

He said to me, I asked him, what brought you to this program today?

And he said, I only just tagged along with my other friend because he said that he was coming here and he said, why don't I just come along?

So he came along and he actually turned out to be the guy that went on to manage barber shops and he's still working as a professional barber today.

Yeah, I think barbering is a platform that allows that for us to be able to share that with young people.

And I feel it's something that's really, really important.

Because going back when we talk about all those times when I never had an opportunity to talk about these unresolved issues and this painted up resentment, I felt like the way I expressed myself was opposite to, was really reflecting the way I was feeling.

So with these young guys, I really wanted to give them the opportunity to learn how to communicate with

openly with other people with all different walks of life because I felt like coming out of school you spend from the age of five to year 12 you're used to just spending most of your time around your peers but once you leave year 12

In the big world out there, you've got to learn how to talk to all different people.

And communication is key in the barbershop.

Sometimes I feel like communication is so key that if you're great at your customer service and great at treating people and great at communicating with people, that you'll still be able to survive in this industry even if your haircuts are shocking.