By Janaina Quinet and Victoria Pacheco
RESENDE, July 3 (Reuters) – In a barbershop in Resende, in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro state, World Cup fever is going to people’s heads, quite literally. Barber Washington Santos, 27, has created a haircut featuring the Brazilian flag to celebrate the country’s bid for a sixth World Cup title, or “hexa” in Portuguese.
The “Hexa Cut” has become a hit among local fans eager to show their confidence in the national team’s campaign.
Santos first introduced the style during the 2022 World Cup, when videos of his work began circulating online. He revived it for this year’s tournament and has already painted the green, yellow, blue and white flag into the hair of about 30 customers, most of them children and teenagers.
“I wanted to create something different,” he said.
The process begins with a haircut and bleaching the hair until it turns white. Santos then uses homemade stencils of his own design to outline the flag before painting the blue circle, yellow diamond and green background, finishing the finer details by hand.
Santos, who entered the profession more than a decade ago after a friend invited him to take a barbering course at a local residents’ association, now sees about five customers a week requesting the style. Demand surges ahead of Brazil’s matches.
Since creating the design, Santos has expanded his repertoire to include the flags of other countries, spider webs, and soccer club colors.
During a visit to the barber this week, Gleizyane de Souza, a 27-year-old fan, said she believed the haircut could help bring Brazil its long-awaited sixth World Cup.
“We’re doing our part,” she said. “Now it’s up to the players to do theirs.”
(Reporting by Janaina Quinet in Resende and by Victoria Pacheco in Sao Paulo, editing by Manuela Andreoni and Aurora Ellis)
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