Whether you are after a fade, slick back, perm or a buzz cut look no further - a barber training centre in the Auckland CBD is offering free trims.
If you do not mind yours being the first hair the apprentice barber has ever cut, that is.
Mr Barber, an NZQA approved and registered training centre, is the only barber-specific training centre in Aotearoa.
Barbers-in-training are chucked straight into the deep end, practising on real people from day one.
At 10am on Thursday outside Mr Barber in the Auckland CBD, the place was already buzzing.
For 25 years, Aucklanders have been going to the training school for a free trim, while apprentices snip their way towards a level four certificate in commercial barbering.
Danelle Higgins did her barber training at Mr Barber in 2019. Now, alongside her brother Brodie, she is running the course.
"We come up from a small town called Murupara. It's all poverty and all of that stuff. I wanted to do something different, help people, get them a qual. I had it hard growing up, so I touch base with a lot of these boys."
Would-be barbers complete a 12-week course covering both theory and practical skills. They are then put on placements in barbershops, where they must work 780 hours to complete the qualification.
Although the job market has slowed, especially during winter, she said there is no shortage of people applying to join their crew.
"We get barber shops calling us up all the time for barber students. We have a barber job page as well, [if] they have job vacancies."
Clarence Morrison has just graduated from the three-month programme and is soon heading into a placement.
"It was something for like an investment for me. Came from drugs, alcohol, prison sort of background, brought up in foster homes and kind of cheated my way through life.
"Those things don't really last, so it's starting from scratch again and this is a good place."
Morrison has cut the hair of homeless people, university students, tourists and people popping in for a short back-and-sides during their work lunch break.
"It gives some hope, people that are going for a job interview and if they're unsure, you're able to give them some confidence, to be able to step into their day.
"It's like [being] little ambassadors for the community."
Alex Burnett completed the course with one of his mates and is now a tutor on the course.
"I was sort of at a loose end a little bit after school, just doing odd jobs and stuff and I just sort of thought of it as something that would suit me and I gave it a try and never looked back."
Burnett said he can have 20 conversations a day with different customers.
"We've had a lot of people that have been coming through since the start, and it helps with getting people something that they need and they can get it for free.
"It's a win-win, really, because these guys get to get to learn, get to practise on them."
When he is not working at a barbershop up on Karangahape Road, Alex works as a part-time a tutor at the school, where he's able to give tips from his own experience.
"It gets the nerves out of the way and gets them used to having real people in the chair and having proper conversations, cause it's more than just cutting.
"If you've just got a mannequin, all you're doing is cutting, whereas in here, you can talk to your customers [and] you can learn about yourself."
Mr Barber was the brainchild of Jacqui Spence and her barber husband Neville, who, when they moved to New Zealand from the United Kingdom, saw the need for a barber-specific course.
Jacqui said 90 percent of barbers walk into jobs when they complete it.
"They've come through and done something that they've been passionate about and learned a trade and gone forward.
"A lot of them have gone on to open their own businesses ultimately and they've raised their family and been able to live a really good life because of it."
The school operates from 9.30am to 4pm Monday to Friday, with free haircuts on offer from 10 - 12pm and 1 - 3pm.
