Cuttack barber who sets hair on fire

Cuttack: A barber at Cuttack has now become the talk of the town for cutting clients’ hair with fire, sounds scary but true.

Meet Suresh Chandra Barik of Jagatsinghpur, who has now mastered the technique that has already been a huge hit and is being practised by few in other parts of the world including Pakistan.

The 29-year-old barber has been running a parlour at Choudhry Bazar in Cuttack for the last 12 years and it is almost a month that he has been giving a unique look to his clients by setting their hair on fire.

Coming from modest background, this barber has refused to let his spirits to be bowed down by the odds, and is now dreaming big for his future.

Barik’s technique, though not unique, has no doubt turned the spotlight on him for putting into practice the fire hair cut which certainly is not a child’s game.”

“Watching others on internet, I came across the idea to give the style a try. However, initially a lot of people were reluctant and hence I had to convince a friend for experimenting. Gradually, clients are now demanding for the fire hair-cut,” said Barik.

Barik uses some flammable powder and liquid (which he refuses to name as a trade secret) on his clients’ head and sets hair ablaze using a lighter.

Once lit up, Barik then steadily moves comb along with scissors to give the client a new hair-style while flames continue to burn. He charges Rs 100 for the unique hair-cut that is only being done at his shop in the city.

Many feel that the fire hair cut as being named by Barik to ‘dangerous’ while others are keen to burn their hair for that perfect hair style and new look.

“I have already done the fire hair cut on over 30 customers and they are happy with the results as their problem of split hair was completely checked by the technique,” Barik said.

The barber further informed that though risky, adequate safety measures are being followed before putting the clients’ hair on fire. Similarly, as the flames do not reach the skin of the head due to fast moving of comb and scissors, the clients do not feel any pain even if their hair is burning.

“Though I was scared initially but I gave it a shot as it is unique and nobody else in the state is doing such hair cut in Odisha,” said Kartik Sahu, a resident of Buxi Bazar.