Peter, 66, closed down his Invermay Road barbershop after health complications resulted in him taking an abrupt exit from the profession.

He gained his affinity for grooming after his father Bill Savage, who was a barber himself around the Wellington Street area.

"When I started working around 1970 the barbershop industry was completely different," Peter said.

"There were a lot of barbers in Launceston, longer hairstyles came in that time and there weren't any opportunities to get into a barber shop for work."

Peter's brother Robert Savage has also continued the family business, with his own barbershop in Kings Meadows.

Bill, Peter and Robert Savage have a combined 100 years of barbering under their belts.

For Peter, it wasn't the work that kept him going all this time but the stories and bonds built with every walk-in he's had over his career.

"You get a tremendous array of people from all sorts of backgrounds," he said.

"I was privileged to cut the hair of a man named Joe - he'd had a fall and one of his friends asked me if I could go to his house for a cut because his 100th birthday was coming up."

"I cut his hair a couple of days before his birthday ... he passed away on the Saturday and his birthday was on the Sunday - he was one day shy."

Hairstyle trends came, went and in the mullet's case came back again, however that made little difference to Peter's older clientele.

"Trends didn't effect me as much as they would other barbers because I mostly dealt with retired people who didn't change," Peter said.

Peter's biggest concern about stepping away from his barbershop was the many customers-made-friends he wouldn't be able to catch up with on a daily basis anymore.

"I never got a chance to say thank you to all the customers. In my line of business your customers are your friends," Peter said.

"I hope when I get a bit better I can do a little bit [of barbering].

"I'd like that just for the company."