A local barber has been named No. 1 in a New Orleans hair-cutting competition.

Samuel Semi, owner of Unlimited Kuts on Halls Ferry Road, won the $1,000 grand prize, a trophy and bragging rights last weekend in the barber category of the Stylebrity Bayou Brawl, sponsored by SalonLocators.com.

His winning cut was of a colored and cut image of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals on model Ronald “Tick” Williams of Vicksburg.

“I feel good,” said Semi, who says he took 15 minutes to complete the cut. “I shook up the whole competition.”

The barber category required him to showcase five looks and perform a cut in a live presentation, Semi said, during which he beat six others in his category. He was allotted one hour for the live cut, and all five of his looks were of colored cartoon images. Semi says he won second place in two recent competitions in Jackson.

The 15-year barber has developed a technique he calls “3-D hair color” that he used on his model.

“I love it,” said Williams. “I like to be different.”

A New York native, Semi has been in Vicksburg since childhood and is realizing his dream of combining art and technique at his shop on Halls Ferry. He always wanted to be a cartoonist, but began cutting hair to earn a living. He graduated from the Jacqueline Sullivan beauty school in Utica.

“Everybody cuts hair,” Semi said. “I had to do something different and push it to the next level.”

Among Semi’s hair art was an image of President Barack Obama that he cut into a person’s hair during the presidential campaign.

Semi and his winning cut, he said, will be featured in the August issue of New Orleans’ Stylebrity magazine. He doesn’t have any other competitions lined up, but said, “If one comes along, I’m ready.”

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Contact Manivanh Chanprasith at mchan@vicksburgpost.com