Eisha Teiho - Certificate in Barbering in 2019

The Cut Above grad helping others one snip at a time

“No matter where I am, you're coming into me for a service and I will provide the best way I know how and that is as a barber.”

Being a female in a male-dominated industry isn’t easy but Cut Above graduate Eisha Teiho (of Ngāpuhi & Ngāti Hine) is making waves as quick as she’s cutting fades.

"The hardest thing is being a wahine in this industry - Some males prefer not to have their hair cut by a woman, they say ‘oh you're a girl, you're a hairdresser’, straight away. They don’t know the difference between a hairdresser and a barber” It was Eisha’s passion for barbering and her connections with Cut Above which saw her stick it out to graduation.

“I just love it too much, and the connection I made with our class was just really good and I could see that some of our boys needed a bit of a push.”

After graduating from Cut Above’s Certificate in Barbering in 2019, Eisha set out to improve her community of South Auckland using the skills she learnt at Cut Above. 

"The idea for that started when I was in the academy and realised that there were so many people who were missing out on cuts," Eisha said.

And so began the story of ‘Koha Cuts’...

Check out her recent profile by Maori Television with Stuff here.