In a luxury hotel suite overlooking downtown Toronto, barber Tarin Dhamrait unpacks his tools from his travelling case.
He is a man on the move — flying around the world servicing his growing list of NBA basketball players. In the chair, Indiana Pacers all star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, one of several Pacers’ players who will get a cut from Dhamrait while the team is in town to play the Raptors.
“I have been told I have an elite lineup (hairline), best lineups in the league, and that comes from this guy. He definitely has a reputation around the league,” Haliburton says.
“When we come to town, I become like the planner. I help put the schedule together, give guys his number, put guys in touch because everybody wants to see him.”
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For somebody who was unsure what he wanted to do for a living, Dhamrait’s journey to becoming a celebrity barber is remarkable.
“A buddy of mine that was actually a barber growing up, he said why don’t you start cutting hair,” Dhamrait recalls.
After a number of stints working in shops across the GTA, the Mississauga native parlayed some old friendships into a job that has taken him around the NBA and to the Olympics, where he worked with the Canadian men’ s basketball team.
All about ‘word of mouth’
Dhamrait grew up with Oshae Brissett, who recently played with the Boston Celtics, and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Nickeil Alexander-Walker. He cut their hair and players around the league liked what they saw.
“It’s word of mouth,” Damrait says. “If you do a good job and then the next person wants a haircut, and then it just kind of keeps going.”
Dhamirait knows that for his NBA clients like Haliburton, how they look is almost as important as how they play. Haliburton, for one, says he has embraced the focus on players’ hairstyles and clothing choices.
Haliburton brings the ball up the court during his team’s 140-126 win over the Knicks in December 2023 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Grace Hollars/The Indianapolis Star The Associated Press)
“My haircut, my style, play into who I am as a human being and that goes into how I play, so I feel like they are all really connected,” Haliburton says. “The great part about our league is that it allows guys to show their artistic vision, their style and be themselves.”
Style extends beyond NBA
Dhamrait’s handiwork on his NBA clients is seen on television every night and is plastered all over social media — its reach extending into barbershops around the world. At Brazykuts in midtown Toronto, owner Carlos Bonifaz says they are always being asked to replicate Dhamrit’s vision.
“The influence that these NBA players have, these artists have, is so important because these kids come in and they’re like foaming over them and they’re like, I want to look like this,” Bonifaz says. “It’s important that the NBA players stay fresh, because that’s what drives the kids that keep coming back.”
For Dhamrait, it’s all about making his clients happy, all about helping them find the style that makes players feel good on the court and that resonates beyond the arena.
After wrapping up his work in Toronto, it will be time to pack up his tools and get back on the road. Dhamrait is off to Los Angeles, where he will meet up with NBA superstar Anthony Edwards for a haircut. After that, another city, another team, another step on his improbable journey.
“For myself, just coming from Mississauga and Toronto, it’s crazy to think that a pair of clippers can bring me so far,” he says.