Life in HEATTECH with Nasir Sobhani - The Streets Barber
Jul 09, 2020
LifeWear
Find out how everyday people wear UNIQLO's HEATTECH.
Nasir wears his HEATTECH Ultra Warm Crew Neck T-Shirt (Long Sleeve) layered under an Oversized Flannel Stand Collar Long Sleeve Shirt and paired with Regular Fit Tapered Jeans
UNIQLO is led by the brand’s philosophy of LifeWear where clothing is designed to make everyone’s life better. It is simple, high-quality, everyday clothing that is inspired by life’s needs. This winter, UNIQLO is featuring conversations with real, everyday Aussies who work, play and live in our HEATTECH range. UNIQLO’s HEATTECH range, driven by technology and innovation, serves as a base layer or thermal to help keep you warm during the colder months.
Nasir Sobhani, AKA The Streets Barber, first adopted his moniker about six years ago when he was giving haircuts to marginalised men and women on the streets of Melbourne.
On his days off, Nasir would skateboard around the city giving free haircuts in the hope that he could spark a clean start in someone’s life through a clean cut. His desire to help the less fortunate stems from his own personal history of struggles and from his belief in serving humanity.
UNIQLO Australia speaks to him to find out more about his service to the less fortunate and how it has stemmed from his own personal history and desire to help others find purpose through serving humanity.
When did you come to Australia and what made you move here?
I came to Australia about eight years ago from Canada, and very quickly began to pursue my passion of cutting hair.
At the time, I was studying history at a university in Canada, and had plans to become a teacher. After struggling with drug addiction for years, in my fourth year at university I went to rehab.
In rehab, I was able to really reflect on my life and what external and societal pressures I was facing, or bringing upon myself — without even sometimes realising it. Through this period of reflection, I was able to bring myself back to my true self and identify what I really wanted to do in life.
Leaving rehab I had this drive, this goal, this mindset that cutting hair was going to be my future. After learning some techniques, the opportunity to move to Australia fell into my lap as my brother was already living here and I really wanted to start life fresh and begin from scratch.
How did you start The Streets Barber? What inspired you?
What inspired me most was my upbringing with the Baha’i faith. Both sides of my family are Baha’i — we believe in the oneness of humanity. They live all around the world, serving their communities in whatever ways they can. After rehab I told my mum I wanted to become a barber and she told me ‘Nas, whatever you do, so long as you do it in the spirit of service, we’ll always be proud of you’.
When I moved to Australia, I spent so much time trying to learn all the tricks of the trade as a barber. Being sober and having a whole new life made me really happy, but I still didn’t feel complete.
One day I met a homeless man on the street. I would give him coffee and a muffin every day for the first few months. One day, I asked him if he would like a haircut and he seemed to light up.
I gave him a haircut and I could feel the power and the blessing I received, but also the power a haircut could give someone who really needed it. I could see that not just the haircut was what he needed, but that companionship, the love and attention that many people on the streets don’t get as they are passed by every day.
I realised that this is how I can serve humanity; by giving everything I’ve got when I cut hair for people. Before this epiphany, I would cut hair, but I wasn’t doing it in the spirit of service. Once I transformed my approach into doing it in a spirit of service, my mindset of cutting hair changed dramatically. It’s about giving whoever is in my chair the same attention, the same love, compassion, and companionship.
My number one focus is to not only make them look better — but to make them feel better.
What story has stuck with you the most or what work have you done are you most proud of?
I’d say that first haircut that I gave the guy on the street. For a long time, he wouldn’t look me in the eyes when I would give him a coffee and a muffin—it would only be an ‘Oh, thanks’.
When I gave him the haircut, he actually looked me straight in the eyes and said, ‘Thank you so much. I’ve been so depressed, I haven’t wanted to look at myself in the mirror’. This resonated with me because of my previous struggles with addiction.
He told me he hadn’t had the confidence, desire or motivation to groom and take care of himself. For someone to say that to me and allow me to give him a haircut was very humbling.
He told me he couldn’t wait to show his daughter what her dad looked like now. That was really powerful, and I felt like he was a different person afterwards. He didn’t just look different—his energy, his vibe, his whole demeanour was very different.
That’s where the whole clean cut, clean start movement came. I gave this guy a clean cut and he was telling me how he wanted to start a fresh life. The fact that I could give him a haircut and it led to that was incredible. He really had a different perspective to life.
Makeovers don’t need to be material, they can be emotional or mental. When I’m cutting hair on the streets, my focal point is to get close and connect with people. It’s not about the haircut itself, but using the haircut as my gateway to bond with people in the community.
Nasir layers his HEATTECH Ultra Warm Turtle Neck T-Shirt (Long Sleeve) with a Corduroy Long Sleeve Shirt, paired with Regular Fit Tapered Jeans and HEATTECH Knitted Cap.
How do you stay warm when out on the streets helping people?
Usually I’m wearing layers upon layers just to keep myself insulated. Obviously the HEATTECH range has been great because it’s something that’s pretty cost efficient and to keep me warm without having to bulk up on layers.
When I’m out on the streets I’m not just running and skateboarding around, but I’m also constantly moving my arms to cut the hair of my clients.
When you’re wearing six or seven layers, there’s a trade-off between the need for flexibility and mobility on the one hand, and warmth on the other—normally one of them has to go. HEATTECH allows me to have both, where I can be mobile and warm. It's so convenient and it helps me a lot.
After you give your haircuts, aside from thank you, what do you hear most?
Whenever I give someone a haircut on the streets, they say thank you, but I always make it a point to thank them. It really shocks them, they don’t understand why I’m thanking them when they think I did them a favour.
I always explain to them that in connecting with them this way, they also allowed me to do something I love. People on the streets always feel like they’re constantly taking and they don’t get to feel that they’re giving something back. It really empowers them that little bit more.
I find that people on the streets take care of each other more than anyone else. A person on the streets could see another person on the street and they’ll eat half a sandwich and give the other half to the other person. It’s very inspiring — so selfless and giving.
What motivates you everyday to keep doing what you do?
Part of me feels like I’ve recognised the purpose of life, at least in my opinion. I believe our destiny is to discover our skills and talents, what we’re really good at.
Everyone’s got a skillset, a talent, something they’ve been gifted with—whether at birth or through education. Once you figure that out, you use it to benefit humanity.
If you can use that to benefit mankind, whether it’s one person or a million people, as long as you’re using that skill that you’ve been blessed with, to benefit others, then you’ll wake up and you’ll feel like life has purpose. If you turn those words, you get the purpose of life.
So for me, all I’m doing is living my life’s purpose, through cutting hair.
Nasir wears HEATTECH Ultra Warm Turtle Neck T-Shirt (Long Sleeve), Corduroy Long Sleeve Shirt, UNIQLO U Long Sleeve Fleece Shirt Jacket and Regular Fit Tapered Jeans.
You live out of the city now, what made you move out of Melbourne?
I was working in Melbourne at a really great barber shop but I didn’t feel like I was providing that service I talk about and giving back to the community as much as I wanted to.
On my days off I was so exhausted from working in a busy, fast-paced shop that I wasn’t able to do haircuts on the streets as much.
I also really wanted to start working with the prisons. A lot of people I met on the street had been in and out of jail and I wanted to contribute to helping those in prison, and to support the process of rehabilitation so they wouldn’t have to return back to prison once they got out.
My mum always told me to focus on the solution, not the problem. With most of the prisons out near Geelong, that drove me to move out here. No one was really giving me a chance while I was in Melbourne so I moved closer to have more in-person contact with the people in charge and to demonstrate I was serious about equipping the inmates with skills that would hopefully help them have a fresh start.
I’ve been here in Geelong for about two years now and about eight months ago we started our program with the prisons in the area. It’s a basic barber workshop where we teach the guys how to cut hair and I try to bring some of the Streets Barber ethos about serving the person in the chair, which is to make them feel better than they did before they sat down. So far, it’s been really good and the guys really enjoy it.
If you had an endless amount of funding to use for good, what would you do?
I would work with Indigenous communities first. I want to travel to rural Aboriginal communities, to teach the youth the art of barbering. If I had unlimited funding, that is what I would want to do.
I also want to keep teaching prisoners how to cut hair. I want to help them change their lives for the better so that they can get jobs when they get out.
Nasir uses the items below from UNIQLO’s HEATTECH range:
HEATTECH Ultra Warm Turtle Neck T-Shirt (Long Sleeve)
HEATTECH Knitted Cap
HEATTECH Ultra Warm Crew Neck T-Shirt (Long Sleeve)
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