“For us in our team, we feel like we come from that environment. We understand the youth, I know we are a lot older, one thing that we do different from what I experienced is that we listen, and I think that’s where we should start” – Savele “FITZ” Refiti
Young barber Mux is one of the leaders of the Twosevenfive Barbershop in Mangere.
And ask any of the locals or the regulars of the shop and they will gladly vouch for his skills and the work he prides himself in.
It’s crazy to even think that the decision to pick up the clippers and the scissors was only made a few years ago, as a way to learn how to ‘talk’ in public spaces.
And he’s come a long way from that shy young’un, who admits that he’s still perfecting the art of ‘conversation’ while giving out fresh fades to his customers.
From church pastors, to your regular tradie he has cut them all.
“For me it’s just finding out who you are, like identity. I’ve cut people from all walks of life,” he says.
“Out of all the hundreds of people you talk to, you probably collect, like, one percent of their information and apply it to your life and it just changes you.”
As a leader among his team, Mux took on board the idea of helping to inspire eager youngsters willing to learn the trade.
That’s why the Twosevenfive Barbershop has put together a 10-week course – to run alongside the school term as an afterschool programme – to teach interested youngsters the basics of barbering.
And in week one, the focus was on the one thing Mux knew was just as important in the industry; communication and public speaking.
“If you can’t communicate, you can’t do anything,” he says.
“So with the activities that we have done today even, with them introducing their partners, they were struggling. So the more that we did with them, mixing and mingling, the more confident they got.”
Twosevenfive Barbershop is part of the Twosevenfive Movement started by shop owner Savele “Fitz” Refiti who says having the barbershop jump on board with the classes helps to get young people in his area engaged.
Fitz runs the Twosevenfive Foundation which helps spearhead a lot of outreach programmes for youth in Mangere and across South Auckland. With the barbershop operating at the heart of Mangere, he believes it can also be part of the programmes he runs.
As a parent himself, Fitz says the sessions – run outside of normal activities such as school and sports – helps students express themselves through different mediums, like barbering.
“I think it’s important that we do this because there’s youth that are into books, there’s youth that are into sports. But there’s also a gap for other youth that don’t fall into that,” Fitz says.
“So if we can fill in the gap for kids that are interested in barbering, then why not? We’ve got the facility, we’ve got the team that are keen on teaching so lets just put 1 and 1 together.”
Being able to relate to the youth and those taking part in the sessions is key, and is why Fitz believes the barbershop classes can have positive results.
“I grew up in Mangere and as a youth there was not enough guidance because I was a troubled teen, so there wasn’t enough guidance for me at that time,” he says.
“For us in our team, we feel like we come from that environment, we understand the youth.
“I know we are a lot older, (but) one thing that we do that is different from what I experienced is that we listen. And I think that’s where we should start.”
The barbering classes are currently running with the hopes it can grow into a more permanent programme.
