Bonteheuwel barber Adiel Salie first cut his local competition down to size.
Now the 38-year-old has conquered the continent by winning the Bump Patrol Africa cutting competition held on Saturday.
This is the biggest cutting competition in Africa and the virtual finals were held in Johannesburg.
Adiel first beat over 200 Capetonians to make it to the regional finals.
He was the only representative from the Mother City to make it to the finals of the competition.
His portrait of reggae legend Bob Marley won him the competition which came with prize money of R50 000.
“I did a portrait of Bob Marley on someone’s hair and included the ganja leaf,” he says.
“I used the person’s dreadlocks to represent Bob’s hair.”
The hair guru had just won the Duel of the Barbers in Stellenbosch in October where he was awarded the Duel Master for 2020 for doing the fastest cut, needing just 58 seconds to do a fader.
Posted by Duel of the Barbers onMonday, October 12, 2020
“When I was announced as the winner of the competition, I could not believe it. I was emotional, I have been working hard and this competition was big,” says a jubilant Adiel.
Let us introduce you to the Duel Master 2020. Congratulations Adiel Salie, your talent brings honor to the Duel of the Barbers competition.
Posted by Duel of the Barbers onMonday, September 28, 2020
The annual competition asks contestants to send in videos of themselves doing a haircut.
The video with most shares and likes make the cut.
Judges then start adjudicating the finalists.
Adiel also runs workshops where he trains aspiring barbers his cutting edge techniques.
True inspiration Congrats rob 🙏![CDATA[]]>🙌
Posted by Adiel Salie onMonday, December 7, 2020
Tausha Jagers, 19, and Shakeel Leroux, 20, are his current students.
Tausha is the first female barber to study under Adiel and she says she is learning a lot.
“I feel blessed that I am a female that can cut in a man’s world. You never go home without learning a new thing from Adiel,” she says.
Adiel says his achievements show that you can get ahead in life by cutting.
“If people do what they love and dedicate their time to it, they will get somewhere.
“I will not stop contributing to the community of Bontas and hopeful another winner will come from here,” he adds.