Arabic version: رجل في الستين يترك التسويق ويصبح حلاقًا

Phil Yates left a marketing job at the age of 60 to retrain as a barber and now works in a high-end Auckland barbershop. He had no prior experience cutting other people’s hair before he enrolled on a full-time level 4 barbering course.

According to The Guardian, Yates was nervous about telling his father he wanted to change careers, and was surprised when his father encouraged him. The course was nearly finished when he approached Hava & Co; the owner asked him to work over Christmas, sweeping floors to see if it suited him, and he has been there since.

Yates grew up in England and moved with his family to New Zealand. He had a varied working life including factory jobs, concreting, photolithography, and later graphic design and marketing. His mother had worked as a hairdresser, and he adopted a rockabilly style and the nickname “the rocking barber,” complete with a pompadour. He runs an internet radio show called Grits and Grease and keeps a 1957 jukebox at home.

On busy days Yates sees 16 or 17 clients, each with a half-hour slot, which the piece notes leaves about 22 minutes for cutting once washing, payments and bookings are taken into account. He says the pace and rhythm of barbering suit him; he thinks he likely has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and finds the continual hands-on work energising. As he puts it, even a buzz cut can make him feel good because “every single cut has to be your absolute best” and each appointment is a finished project he can complete multiple times a day.

He hopes one day to travel and barber as he goes.

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