Gone are the days when a bowl and a pair of scissors sufficed for the back-to-school hairdo.
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With just a week to go before classes commence for 2021, barbershops and hairstylists around the city have begun to see a steady increase in demand for student haircuts.
Ross Clay, the owner of Ross C's Barber in Kooringal and in the Marketplace, has become one of the more sought after stylists for boys of all ages, particularly after his intricate hair stencil designs made a splash online.
"I did my first [design] in 2007 for my brother-in-law, it was a silver fern. I did the stencil with hairspray but I ended up doing that so many times I didn't need a stencil, I could free-hand it," Mr Clay said.
He even did the design on his own head, with the willing help of his wife.
Since relocating to Wagga in 2013, Mr Clay has brought his passion for hair art to a wider audience.
It can take him between 15-30 minutes to fully complete each design, depending on the complexity of the cut, and whether he has seen the design before.
"I once wrote the word 'egghead' onto the back of a guy's head," he said.
"I've done a Pacman eating the dots, that was hard. I used the lid of a tine with some gel on it to leave a [round] imprint in the hair to follow."
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For his school-aged clients, the most common designs Mr Clay is asked for involve superheroes, sporting teams and bands.
On Tuesday, Mr Clay cut the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team logo into the back of 10-year-old Mason Goodson's head.
The design will only last for about two weeks before it's covered by regrowth, but, that's long enough to get his classmates' attention next week. Mason told The Daily Advertiser he reckons all his friends "will want one too, it's pretty cool".
Nash Nixon, opted for a lesser-known design when he asked for the Wu-Tang Clan logo on the right side of his head.
"I like their music, it inspires me," the 15-year-old said.
It's something a little different to his usual cut.
"When I was younger I'd get diamonds, stars, I had a bomb [drawn] in once," he said.
"People love it, they always ask me where I got it done."
Owner of Hairpop Barber Shop on Baylis Street, Ignazio Foltunato is preparing for his busiest season since the studio's opening during the height of the pandemic last year.
Despite the tumultuous time to open, Mr Foltunato said he has been grateful for the customers he's been able to find and keep in the past seven months.
He is also offering special rates for primary school haircuts in the lead up to the first day of school.
"We're quite happy here, we mostly have walk-ins," he said.
"With three barbers, there's really no wait. It's no more than 10 minutes to wait."
To further assist students in the preparation for the year, online tutor service Cluey Learning has 1000 free haircuts available via Just Cuts stores, including the franchise in the Wagga Marketplace.
"Back to school is the perfect time to reflect on the current learning needs of your children, so we've partnered with Just Cuts, the largest hairdressing company in the Southern Hemisphere, to offer parents a helping hand during this busy and expensive time of year," said Cluey's Dr Selina Samuels.
"At the same time, we hope this initiative draws attention to the benefits of personalisation in every aspect of our lives - whether that's a haircut, a coffee order, or our children's learning - because it's important our needs are met."
Vouchers are available online via the Cluey Learning website.