But, yesterday, the Dunedin man believed to be New Zealand's oldest full-time barber finally sheathed his scissors.
John Spek (75) was aged 15 when he started working as a barber in his Netherlands home at the end of World War 2.
"I feel a bit mixed about finishing up, really. Sixty-odd years is a long time, isn't it?" he mused on his last day at Selwyn Grave Men's Hairdressers yesterday.
"I'm going to miss the people most of all. The hair-cutting part is natural when you're a barber, you know. You just go with the flow.
"But the conversation is always different. They tell you everything. You hear all the gossip and all the solutions to the world's problems. You take it in and you leave it in. You fill up the tape, but you don't play it back for anyone else. The main principle for a barber is you listen, but you don't pass it on."
Mr Spek grew up in the German-occupied Netherlands during World War 2 and emigrated to New Zealand in his early 20s.
"The main reason I wanted to come to New Zealand was because I like fishing and hunting. And I wanted to live in a free and open country," he said.
Mr Spek has worked in only two hairdressers in New Zealand. He was at Elliott's Hairdressers in George St for 25 years, before moving to Selwyn Grave 25 years ago.
"You build up a circle of people and you enjoy their company and their conversations. The people here become part of your life. They walk out of the shop after a conversation and a haircut and they feel good," he said.
"It's a way of life and it's a very pleasant way of life.If I could go back I'd do it all again.I have always enjoyed coming to work every day. I'm usually the first one here and the last to leave."
Mr Spek enjoys his job so much that the only time anyone can recall him taking a sick day was when he broke his hip three years ago, aged 72.
He was back at his barber's chair, albeit with a steel plate in his hip, within two months.
"I don't really have any plans for retirement. I'll just get up in the morning and, if the sun is shining, I'll go out. I'll just be taking it easy," he said.
"But I'll still be getting the old scissors out every now and then."
John Garraway, of Brighton, said he had been regularly making the trip to Mr Spek's chair for nearly 10 years.
"Coming here is all about the outing. I'm going to have to get the wife to cut my hair now John's finishing up."
"Everyone's going to miss him here," barbershop owner Selwyn Grave said.
