HAIRDRESSERS are proving unexpected winners during the the credit crunch as the growing ranks of unemployed file down to salons for job-winning haircuts.

While most businesses are cutting back, barbers are sharpening their blades to welcome hordes of jobseekers preparing for interviews.

The district's dole queue hit record levels this Christmas, with more than 1,500 signing-on, but the anticipated showcase of money-saving DIY hair-cuts and homemade dye jobs have so far failed to make an appearance on the high street.

Instead, it appears, with reports of up to 50 applicants battling it out for each vacancy, people are doing all they can to try and get ahead in the jobs race by booking in for a professional cut.

Robert Bell, 49, owner of the Speakeasy salon in Epping High Street has been inundated with unemployed city workers striving to stay presentable.

He said: "Image is very important and we try to make sure out clients have that smart, responsible look that will get them the job they are after.

"I have cut Alan Sugar's hair for 15 years - he always has to look his best for meetings - as well as many other local businessmen, so we are the first port of call for people who need to look immaculate in order to land the best jobs."

And it has been a similar story down the road at Chaps barbers shop where hairdresser Mark Church, 32, says the gloomy economic climate has had an unusual - but most welcome - effect on January trade.

He said: "It is normally very quiet after Christmas, but not this year.

"We have had a lot of people coming in who are out of work who want to stay neat and tidy. I spoke to a guy earlier who has applied to 20 companies, and he wanted to be ready to be first in the queue if he got a call about an interview."