Hastings barber hopes Pink Shirt Day will 'spark the chat' with customers

Maxim Barbers staff Beth Leyser, Shamus Molloy, Brad Warren, Antonio Rigione-Pisone with boss Max Lambert (centre) don pink shirts. Photo / Warren Buckland

A Hastings barbershop is hoping to "spark the chat" around bullying and mental health with its customers.

Staff at Maxim Barbers in Heretaunga Street West donned pink shirts for Pink Shirt Day on Friday, May 21.

Owner Max Lambert said in a barbershop when the client sits in the chair they can often open up to the barber and he has sometimes had "deep and dark conversations" with clients.

He said he can tell when customers come in and have had a bad day and hopes to cut through that and talk about what is going on.

"What we do is we put these really cool looking haircuts on people and we build their self-esteem and it would be nice to be able to be part of where we help them at a deeper level."

Having himself suffered physical bullying in school, with head scars remaining from it, he felt it was an important message.

"Bullying affects a person's self-esteem, it affects the way they feel about themselves; they're not being heard and it can lead to a really dark place where they can end up committing suicide."

He hoped the pink shirts would "spark the chat" with clients about bullying and mental health.

"I just want to let the guys in the community know that we are available, we're here to listen and that even if they don't want to come and talk to us, they're not alone.

"The message of anti-bullying is to stand up and speak up, and for us it is just to listen.

"When someone tells me they're being bullied, I understand where they're coming from."

In the next few weeks, he is organising for a counsellor to come in and chat with the staff about how to approach customers that open up about being bullied.