The tables were turned on former hair stylist Scott Stekly in Great Falls on Wednesday as he received a drastic makeover in exchange for some heavy metal.

Stekly knows a thing or two about doing hair - but he's only just beginning to learn about welding. He said, "I'm a cosmetologist by trade and I've been cutting hair for 36 years. So, this is quite a change for me to go to welding."

Stekly joined a welding class at the MSU-Great Falls College of Technology a few months ago after a skin condition halted his hair styling career.

Stekly explained, "I've always wanted to weld and I did some welding in college, some art welding. So that's what I want to do, more art stuff. I'll leave the hard stuff to the other kids."

As a stylist to many Great Falls clients over the years, there were a few who wanted to see Stekly get a new style of his own.

Joe Filipowicz, the salvage manager at Steel Etc and one of Stekly's regular clients, explained, "Pretty much for the last 15 years I've been wanting to see a new look (on Stekly), and I keep telling them when I go in to get my hair cut at the hair cut place...I tell the girls to cut his hair off and give him a new look."

When Filipowicz found out Stekly was getting into welding they made him an offer: cut off the ponytail for a steel donation.

Stekly agreed, and in exchange for shedding his long locks, Steel Etc. agreed to provide pipe and plate material to the MSU-GF welding program, which was very much needed and appreciated this semester.

Stekly noted, "Our class here is normally 15 students and we have 18, so we are running through this steel, practicing our welds."

After students are done with the materials, scraps will be sent back to Steel Etc. to be recycled and reprocessed.