Gezi barbershop is one of many African barbers in the Melbourne neighbourhood of Footscray. Men from many backgrounds visit not just for haircuts, but to share news, relieve stress and generally connect with their community.
When SBS Tigrinya enters the shop, three barbers are busy with customers facing big mirrors. There are also people sitting in the chairs, some waiting their turn, others just for casual conversation with friends. They talk about homeland politics, jobs and other issues.
“This is our second home,” says one of the men on the shop couches. “After work people catch up here and share ideas and feels like we are in our homeland.”
Amid this, a father and his son loudly argue with one another in front of a barber named Kahsay. They argue about what style haircut the boy should get, while Kahsay waits for their decision.
“No! You need to cut your hair short!,” orders the father.
“I want a high fade,” protests the son.
At the end of a heated conversation, the son’s choice wins out while the father murmurs about kids growing up in Australia being disobedient to their parents.
“We experience a lot of such issues,” says the shop’s owner Ghezai Gebregiorgis of the argument.
“We see people fight on issues like homeland politics and some talk about their day to day experiences here in Australia. Conversations about homeland politics is always a challenge for us. We don’t want to stand on any side of it. We prefer not to participate in such conversations and let people say whatever they feel about it because we don’t want to lose customers.”
According to Ghezai, the different hairstyles that are followed by many African youths tends to differ based on which part of Africa they’re from.
Source: SBS Tigrinya
“Generally, the common preferred hairstyles among the young Africans are low fade, high fade and waves. Most young people from West African backgrounds follow the high fade while young people from East African background prefer a low fade hairstyle.”
Adults, however, prefer to almost completely shave their heads, Ghezai says.
“Back home, adults like us used to like the afro style, but here because they don’t have time to comb they prefer a short haircut. They don’t want to spend much time on their hair. Everyone here is in a rush.”
Kahsay has seven years’ experience working as a barber in Sudan, but after he settled in New Zealand, he could not find a job. Three years ago Ghezai invited him to come to Australia and work with him. For Kahsay, this is a job opportunity where he earns decent money and other benefits.
“Apart from getting money, there are some additional benefits you get in barbershops,” says Kahsay, sharing a story of one of his regular clients.
“This guy comes every two weeks for haircuts, and while I cut his hair, he always falls asleep and it becomes difficult to perform my job. When I asked why he falls asleep while I cut his hair, he told me he has problems at home and this is his only place where he is relieved from the stress. From that day on, I felt happy because I am now, unknowingly, helping people with their other issues.”
All three barbers in the shop have a similar opinion on how it’s sometimes difficult to handle people with so many particular characteristics in the business.
Source: SBS Tigrinya
“I can say for sure that there is no one like a barber to carry burdens and tolerate many things. We encounter people with hot tempers, and sometimes we have people with mental health problems. This creates a lot of stress in our lives,” says Ghezai.
Awet, another barber, who just came to Australia eight months ago, compares his four years’ experience as a barber in Ethiopia with the few months working in Australia.
“A shortage of English language and cultural differences are some of the problems for newcomers to work as a barber here,” he says.
According to Ghezai there are more than ten barber shops owned by Ethiopian- and Eritrean-origin folk just in Footscray. Each shop has more than five barbers of Ethiopian and Eritrean backgrounds.
Source: SBS Tigrinya
“The barber experience we brought with us to Australia helped us set foot in a new country and made us able to raise our children here,” says Ghezai.
As the stream of people continues to flow in and out of the shop, so the loud chatter rolls on, and the three barbers keep cutting their customers’ hair, just how they like.
