Leanne Andrews has been barbering for more than 20 years. She was taught the trade by her father, South Dunedin barber Brian Casey.
The association with Mr Casey continues in the name of Mrs Andrews' new venture, Brian Casey Men's Hairdressing, which has just opened on Stuart St.
Taking a break between clients, Mrs Andrews told The Star plenty had changed in barbering since she clasped her first pair of sharp scissors.
Where most men used to favour barbers, many now chose salons.
At the same time, the number of barber apprentices had dropped while many incumbent barbers were slowly moving towards retirement.
''We [barbers] are a dying breed,'' she said.
However, she believed one thing had not changed: a lot of men still liked to be able to get a haircut without having to make an appointment.
Mrs Andrews learnt her trade from her father, completing her apprenticeship to work in her father's Mayfair Mall shop. She took over the business in the early 1990s, when Mr Casey retired, and stayed at the helm until 2010.
''You could say it's in the blood,'' Mrs Andrews said. ''I always used to joke that my father was like an older twin.''
Mrs Andrews was the first woman in Dunedin to complete a barbering apprenticeship and hoped to be able to help more women get involved in the industry.
Women worked at other barbers and men's hairdressers in the city, but she hoped more could be encouraged.
As a woman, she sometimes felt she had not been taken seriously as a barber in what was very much ''a man's world'', she said.
On the other hand, she thought some men liked coming to her because they found it easier to open up and talk to a woman.
Veteran men's hairdresser Errol Sharp, owner of St James Men's Hairdressing, said salons made inroads on barbers' custom from the 1960s, when men started wanting longer hairstyles.
At the time, many more traditional barbers were reluctant to change their offerings, and salons were the beneficiaries.
Barbering apprenticeships were also replaced by courses offered at education providers. All up, the changes meant there were not as many city barbers as in the industry's heyday, he said.
As other barbers had adapted and trained new barbers for the future, Mr Sharp was teaching a young woman who approached him wanting to learn how to cut men's hair.
- Jonathan Chilton-Towle
