Eddie Doyle loves his job. He's a stylist in a top salon on Main Street in Blackrock, Co Dublin. Weilding a scissors and a comb, he snips and styles, sometimes straightening his back to chat to his client or to check that her hair is hanging correctly and in place. "It's important to note the shape of the face," he says.

He specialises in cutting and up-styling. The only aspect of his work that he doesn't like is when clients fail to show up for an appointment or when they're late. Otherwise his job allows him to be creative and he is able to give his interest in style and fashion full rein. He could ask for no more. As someone who has painted as a hobby for years, it's the perfect career for him, he says. It suits him.

"You have to be creative, fashionable and trendy," he explains. "People want to get their hair done by someone who is trendy and able to do it well too."

It's important to have personality, he says. "That would be very important. You have to have a nice smile and make the client feel comfortable." Not everyone wants to talk, he says. "You're like a psychiatrist in a way," he says, mentioning the people who come in sometimes who just want to get away from their homes and relax.

It's hard at the start, he says. As a young person starting out in a hairdressing salon you can begin to wonder if you are ever going to be allowed cut or style or do some colour, he recalls. Some can begin to wonder if they will have to make coffee and sweep the floor for the rest of their lives, he says.

However "your training is the most important thing", says Doyle. And where you learn is crucial, he says. It makes all the difference "if you find a boss who likes going to shows, who takes his staff with him and looks after them".

He was 19 years old before he decided to give hairdressing a try. You see, he grew up wanting to work in a bar like his father. And after sitting his Leaving Cert exam at Navan Community College in Co Meath, at 16, he "went straight in behind the bar", working as a barman for three years. "It was great money but it was hard work and the hours were unsociable. I grew to hate it," he says. "I wanted to be on the other side. I packed it in." And so the search was on to find himself a career.

"I wanted a skill or a trade that would suit me. Something to do for the rest of my life. I was going through the paper and I saw the add: first-year hairdresser wanted."

His father told him to give it a try and if he didn't like it he could do something else. He started working in a hair salon in Dundrum on the south-side of Dublin. He worked there for almost nine months "learning the basics - blowing, setting, applying colour". As an apprentice you have to be prepared for the low wage but this is set to change in the new year, he says. However, four years ago he got only about £35 a week and so he took up a part-time job stacking shelves in a supermarket in order to make ends meet.

Then he was offered a job in another salon. He moved and continued his training with at Aidan Fitzgerald's salon in Blackrock. He was given opportunities to learn because he was interested and he showed flair.

"You have to be eager to learn," he says. "I'm very happy here. We do fashion shows, we go to London, we do TV work." He advises those who are thinking about a career in hairdressing to keep up with trends. "You have to notice styles, get magazines and study the latest hairstyles, which are worn by pop bands." Artistic flair is important, he says. "You can teach them how to cut or blow dry, you can blow dry hair but you have to make it look good," he explains. You'll be good at the job "if that's what you want to do", he says.