This 17-year-old goes around giving free haircuts to strangers. Why?

Due to the ubiquity of street interview videos on TikTok, some of us would probably be unfazed at the idea of local content creators approaching strangers on the street and asking them random questions.

Muhammad Irfan Azman – who goes by the username @irfancuts on TikTok – is the latest creator to follow this trend, but here's the catch: He asks strangers if they would like to get a free haircut from him instead.

In a TikTok video posted on Oct 11, the 17-year-old Temasek Polytechnic (TP) student can be seen approaching a group of secondary school students in public asking if any of them will like to get a free haircut from him.

Sensing their apprehension, he replies "Come on ah bro, free haircut, think about it bro".

One of them eventually agrees, and in the video, the volunteer can be seen sitting in a chair with a salon cape on. 

Irfan then proceeds to engage in small talk with the volunteer while cutting his hair, asking him about his name, age, CCA and hobbies.

The clip concludes with the final reveal of the haircut, and that video has since garnered about 150,000 views and 20,000 likes.

[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@irfancuts/video/7153167249149299969[/embed]

Three days later, he posted another TikTok of him offering free haircuts again, this time approaching a fellow TP student in Punggol.

'It would not feel right to charge them'

Speaking to AsiaOne, Irfan said he started learning how to cut hair in 2020 during the pandemic, but only started to take the craft seriously after his O-level examinations the following year.

"I loved the feeling of getting a fresh haircut, and wanted to share that feeling with others through my side hustle," he said.

In earlier videos, Irfan explained that his hobby started after an unpleasant experience at his usual barber shop where he had to queue for three hours. He did not end up getting the haircut at all.

This was when he decided to take matters into his own hands and taught himself how to cut hair.

"Maybe I should try cutting my brother first, just to get the hang of it," he elaborated in the video. "I messed up. I did it two or three more times and it was still horrible."

He went on to watch more YouTube videos to learn more, before moving on to experiment his hair-cutting skills on his friends.

He then started out giving free haircuts to strangers earlier this month. 

Why he approaches strangers

The idea of approaching strangers came to him as he thought it was "enthralling" to get to know all the "unique individuals" in Singapore, as they all "have a story to tell".

While Irfan reasoned that he is giving free haircuts for content, he also felt that he was giving back to the community at the same time and that "it would not feel right to charge them".

He shared that he only approaches groups of young men as there will be a higher chance that at least one of them will accept the haircut.

He said he only does haircuts for men.

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When asked about his newfound success on TikTok, Irfan said that he has been feeling "excited" at some of his content going viral.

He recounted an incident at a gym where he was approached by a stranger who recognised him from his videos, which "took me by surprise".

While Irfan remarked that he has no plans to open a barber shop now, it is also not entirely out of the way.

"It has always been a dream of mine to be self-employed," he said. "You can say that all barbers dream of opening up a shop in the future."

According to his profile, he has been providing haircuts for $15 on an appointment basis at an undisclosed location in Pasir Ris.

His videos have been met with relatively positive reception, with some netizens even requesting him to visit other locations in Singapore (or even Malaysia), hoping that they would bump into him and also get a haircut for free.

ALSO READ: 'Do they have to shame him?' School in China defends forcibly cutting student's hair after disturbing video appears online

wongdaoen@asiaone.com

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