Modern Mens Barber on Spey Street is where Invercargill's men have been getting no-fuss, well-executed haircuts for over two decades. Founded by Liza Dermody, a barber with more than 20 years in the business, the salon has grown alongside a team of skilled professionals into what it calls the city's premier men's hairdresser — a reputation that has since carried the name to Mosgiel, Cromwell and an Express Salon in Invercargill's KMart complex. Spey Street remains the original.
The service list is a proper barber's menu: hair cutting and styling spanning quick all-over clipper cuts, clipper and scissor combinations, scissor-only cuts and the full fade family through to skin fades; beard trimming from a basic tidy-up to complex shaping; and traditional shaving, including the cut throat shave. Waxing for eyebrows, ears and nose rounds things out, with a shampoo available too.
The experience is deliberately easy. No appointment is necessary — walk in, and if there's a wait, free wireless internet and SkyTV mean you can catch up on news, sport or emails while you wait. There are five free customer car parks out front, late nights on Wednesdays and Thursdays until 7pm, Saturday trading from 9am to 2pm, and closure on Sundays and public holidays. The team takes last haircuts 15 minutes before close and suggests arriving half an hour early on the busiest days.
Product-wise, the salon uses and recommends the American Crew range of men's hair and body, styling and shave products.
Step through the door at 150 Spey Street and you're in the shop that started it all. Modern Mens Barber is the work of Liza Dermody, a barber with more than twenty years in the trade, who along with her team of skilled professionals has grown the business into what it calls Invercargill's premier men's hairdresser. That success has carried the name to Mosgiel, Cromwell and an Express Salon in Invercargill's KMart complex — but Spey Street is the original, and it still runs on the same simple promise: no appointment necessary, just walk in.
Everything here is built around convenience. You don't book; you turn up, take a seat and wait your turn. And thanks to free wireless internet and SkyTV in the salon, the wait is less of a wait and more of a chance to catch up on the news, the sports results or your emails while the clippers do their work.
The team does ask you to mind the clock, though. Last haircuts are taken fifteen minutes before closing, and on the busiest days — particularly Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays — they recommend arriving a full half hour before close to be sure you're seen. Weekday trading runs from 8.30am through to 6pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, with a late 7pm finish on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Saturdays trade from 9am to 2pm, and the salon closes on Sundays and public holidays. Driving in? There are five free customer car parks set aside for Spey Street clients — a small thing, but a genuine one this close to the city centre.
The cuts list shows the shop's no-nonsense character. The quick options sit at one end: the 'no comb zero' clipper cut taken right down with no guard, available with a foil shaver finish for a smoother result, plus one-comb and two-comb clipper cuts and a #6 comb all over for those wanting a touch more length. At the other end is the finer work — clipper and scissor combinations, scissor-only cuts for a softer finish, and the fade family: a general clipper fade, a zero fade and the skin fade for the sharpest edge in the book.
Beards get their own chapter. A basic trim can be added to a haircut, a complex trim offers more involved shaping, and there's a trim-only option for men who simply want the beard tidied. Add a neck shave with the foil or a cut throat razor and you'll leave noticeably sharper than you arrived.
Then come the traditional services that separate a barber's chair from a hairdresser's back room: a full face shave and the classic cut throat shave. Waxing rounds out the list, covering eyebrows (the middle section), ears and noses — individually or as combo packages — and a shampoo is on hand as well.
The team uses and recommends the American Crew range of men's products, stocking hair and body, styling and shave lines so you can take the finish of your cut home with you.
The Spey Street salon's popularity has written a bigger story. From this one Invercargill shop, Modern Mens Barber has grown to Mosgiel, Cromwell and an Express Salon in Invercargill's KMart complex — four convenient locations, each running to the same walk-in model. The business is still growing, too: it regularly puts the call out for new barbering talent and for anyone interested in owning or operating their own Modern Mens Barber shop.
For Invercargill men, though, the essentials haven't changed. More than two decades of experience behind the chairs, a full spread of services from a quick zero clipper cut to a traditional cut throat shave, free parking out front, wifi and SkyTV inside, and no appointment needed. It's a simple offer — and after twenty-odd years, it clearly works.