Producer Kathleen Mantel with Peleti Oli-Alainu'uese at the launch of The Barber. Photo / Duncan Brown
Producer Kathleen Mantel with Peleti Oli-Alainu'uese at the launch of The Barber. Photo / Duncan Brown
The Flaxmere community is being celebrated in a new web documentary series that takes the viewer into the life of a barber and those who visit him for a haircut.
The Barber focuses on Somehz Touch Barbershop owner Peleti Oli-Alainu'uese, the other barbers who work there, and the community whovisits.
His shop is in the Hastings suburb St Leonards, but many of Oli-Alainu'uese's clientele visit from his home in Flaxmere.
It is considered a sanctuary for the predominately Māori and Samoan men (and occasional woman) who visit the shop.
"Kids come here because they can be themselves. Businessmen come here, celebrities, mobsters."
His journey to become the barber he is has not been easy, however.
He was taught to cut hair by a friend in high school called John Whenui. "I'd go to his house and he'd cook us a feed and he'd cut my hair and I'd cut his.
