Jabez Makawe Studio is a two-chair barbershop hideout on Dalton Street in Napier South — a deliberately small, appointment-only setup run by Napier barber Jabez Makawe, known on the studio's own masthead as Thymullay King. The branding leans into an indie-magazine aesthetic (cover, feature, spread, letters), built around three words: cuts, culture, community.
The rate card covers a full grooming menu: haircuts, beard work, traditional hot towel shaves, plus combos of each — and for clients whose schedules don't fit the studio's hours, after-hours appointments and house calls where the barber comes to you. Every visit runs by appointment through Fresha, so your time is your chair.
Clients reviewing on the studio's Letters page rate it 5/5, calling it the "best cut in Napier" and noting "the whole experience is different." Between visits you can follow the work on Instagram and TikTok at @jabezmakawe.
Walk down Dalton Street in Napier South and you could pass it without noticing — and that's rather the point. Jabez Makawe Studio is a deliberately small, two-chair barbershop, the kind of hideout that trades on craft rather than foot traffic. Every appointment is pre-booked, every client gets the chair to themselves, and everything about the place carries a self-made, street-culture confidence. The man behind it, Jabez Makawe, answers to the name Thymullay King on the studio's own masthead, and the branding follows suit: the website is laid out like an independent magazine, complete with a cover, a feature, an interview and a letters page.
That magazine sensibility isn't just for show. The studio's identity is built on three words — cuts, culture, community — and client reviews run as a "Letter to the Editor," currently sitting at a 5/5 rating. Regulars call it the "best cut in Napier" and say "the whole experience is different," which is about as fitting a description as you'll find for a one-barber, two-chair studio on a quiet Napier South street.
The core offering is the haircut, but the studio builds a full grooming menu around it. Beard work is available on its own or combined with a cut, and the hot towel shave — a proper traditional service — can be booked solo or paired with a haircut for the full works. For clients whose schedules don't fit the studio's public hours, there are two further options: after-hours appointments outside regular trading times, and house calls, where the barber brings the studio to your door.
The full service list runs: haircut; haircut and beard; hot towel shave; haircut and hot towel shave; after hours; and house call. Each can be booked directly through the studio's online booking page.
Because the studio operates strictly by appointment, the visit itself is unhurried. The studio's info page puts it simply: your time, your chair. There's no queueing, no double-booking, no waiting on a walk-in — the slot is yours, and the setup means the barber's full attention is on the work at hand.
Booking happens online through Fresha, which shows live availability and confirms instantly. The studio posts its public booking hours — Tuesday to Friday from 9:45am to 5:15pm, Saturday from 7:30am to 2:15pm, closed Sundays and Mondays — but defers to Fresha for real-time slots. If you need something outside those windows, the after-hours service exists precisely for that.
The studio sits at 81A Dalton Street in Napier South, easy enough to find with the directions link on the studio's info page. If you like to do your homework before sitting down, the CUTS page showcases the work, the Letters page collects client reviews, and the interview with Jabez on The Chair tells the story of the hands behind the scissors. Between appointments you can follow along on Instagram or TikTok at @jabezmakawe, where the studio's output doubles as a living portfolio.
Whether you're after a clean regular cut, a beard reshape, or the full hot towel treatment, Jabez Makawe Studio offers something genuinely rare: an appointment-only barbershop where the barber, the chair and the clock are all yours. Book ahead, turn up on time, and see why Napier clients keep calling it the best cut in town.