A seventeen year old in south-west Laois has made the brave decision to open his own barbershop.

Rathdowney teen Ben O'Doherty recently opened Evolution Barbers at the bottom of the town's square. The Laois youth has been 'blown away' by the support from locals in his new business venture.

"I was always into my hair when I was younger, when I was about 14 I bought my first hair clippers," Ben told the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

 

 

 

 

 

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"I started by cutting my dad and grandad's hair, then I started cutting hair for a few of my friends. When I started getting practice and getting good, I did courses in Retro Barbers in Limerick," he explained.

The Rathdowney barber left school after his Junior Certificate to pursue this career.

Ben explained that he struggled at first to break into the market. It is hard to establish yourself at the start of such a career, particularly at such a young age.

"It was very hard to get going for the first two years or so, it can be quite slow. It picked up for me very quickly then," he explained.

"I was in school when I started, and I started to see the progress in my barbering, so I decided to give it a go full time. The building up is hard, it takes you two or three years to get good at it.

"I started doing it by myself from my house, then I worked in Isaac's Barbers at Manor Stone. I've worked in Old Country Barber's in Portlaoise, and then I decided to go fulltime by myself from the house," Mr O'Doherty said.

Ben and his father began to renovate the business space shortly after Christmas, and have given it a complete makeover.

"My father and a few of his friends did a lot of work, and we hired a few of my friends too. It looks really well now," Ben praised.

"They have been very good in supporting me in opening this. They're really happy for me. We opened on March 3, and I'm flying it," he said.

"It feels good because I didn't think it would all happen so soon. There was a lot of work to be done in the shop before it could open. The hardest part was getting the building finished and legally finalised.

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"I'm delighted to be up and running," Ben finished.

To see more of Evolution Barbers services, opening hours and more, see Ben's website here.