Folau Fakatava - a Hawke's Bay Magpie hair-o

Magpie Folau Fakatava applies his barber skills to Jack Masters, 8, from Napier Central School. Photo / Warren Buckland

The only thing more striking than Folau Fakatava's play in the halfback position this year has been his hair.

The Magpies No 9 first sported his dyed mullet for the Highlanders in Super Rugby Aotearoa, and the platinum blond fleece on the back of his head has only grown more pronounced since the Mitre 10 Cup began.

Fakatava said the inspiration came to him during Covid lockdown back in March and April.

"I was bored, I was with my partner and I asked her to start my mullet," he said.

The signature colour comes from hair dye from the supermarket.

"We had to dye it like three times to get it blond blond, at the start it was orange so I asked her to keep dyeing it," Fakatava explained.

And he has kept with the look since, although it did need some touching up a month ago.

"The black part was growing back so I had to dye it again," Fakatava said.

Folau Fakatava, left, with his platinum blonde mullet, congratulates Magpies teammate Danny Toala on scoring against Manawatu. Photo / Paul Taylor

The nickname his coach Mark Ozich has given him also has a link to the supermarket.

Specifically, Ramen Noodles - a popular type of snack that Magpies coach Mark Ozich reckons Fakatava's hair resembles.

"Every time he says something about me in the reviews of the game and that, he'll just say 'Ramen you need to do this and that', and the boys just started laughing," Fakatava said.

He's not put off by the continued mocking, though: "They know that I don't really care what I look like."

It's a popular look among younger Magpies fans, according to the halfback.

"Heaps of kids after the games at home, they wanna touch my mullet but I tell them na, ask them to grow their own mullet as well," he said.

And that's precisely what he was offering to help with on Friday afternoon – as part of a fundraising skills, drills and games session for children with some of the Magpies players, Fakatava was volunteering his barbering skills at $15 a cut.

He said he would only do mullets for the kids, but getting a dye job similar to his own would be optional.

"I've been cutting hair since I got to New Zealand, I was cutting the 1st XV boys at Hastings," Fakatava said, adding he has spent some time learning the trade in a few barbershops.

"Even with the Highlanders, I was cutting the boys there."

It might make for a career after rugby, but Fakatava is keeping his options open and would be interested in building or becoming a personal trainer as well.

"You gotta have a backup," he said.