GTA barber is NBA players' go-to guy

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."

NBA players have a go-to barber and he’s Canadian

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.

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,