The All Party Parliamentary Group for Hairdressing, Barbering and Cosmetology was reconstituted at the AGM on the 14 June.

This APPG is the ONLY All Party Parliamentary Group representing the hairdressing and barbering sector and serves an important role in the industries access to Government in conjunction with the new Personal Care department at BEIS.

Joined by many MPs from all political parties, Christina Rees MP was voted in as Chair with the following MPs voted in as Vice Chairs;

• John McNally MP
• Catherine West MP
• Ruth Jones MP
• Caroline Nokes MP
• Tonia Antoniazzi MP
• Sir David Arness MP

In addition, Connect Communications was voted in as the group’s continuing secretariat and the Councils political PR organisation.

Great news for the sector knowing this APPG in Westminster is fully active with increased political support.

Hair & Barber Council Registrar, Keith Conniford, says: “Never before has the industry needed a stronger voice to Government more than now, and as we emerge from this pandemic, the continuance of our APPG at Westminster is critical to the future positioning of our industry in the political arena. To be wholly recognised as the professionals we are, this APPG will focus on the many needs and concerns of our sector, whilst continuing to fight for mandatory registration, and the Hair & Barber Council are proud to support and sponsor it.”

In a previous article we spoke of the unlikeliest pairings, vaccination centres for COVID and black-owned barber shops, were about to find their way together.

Well as the weeks went on, this action came into play and we now understand how this amazing idea can operate.

Chicago native Channel Coleman partnered with the City of Chicago to help her clients and neighbours in Englewood, which is a predominantly black neighbourhood in the town, with the lowest vaccination rate in the area.

To help fix this, they launched an ingenious incentive – cut for a jab.

This new project is taking place just weeks before the deadline of President Biden’s objective to make sure at least 70% of American adults had their first dose of the vaccination by Independence Day. And as Black Americans are lowest number of vaccinated people, in terms of racial and ethnic groups, this substantially helps bring healthcare to those have more barriers to get to it.

“The shots just happened so fast. I think that’s what was kind of scaring people. And then you have people just having different reactions to it” says Coleman.

This incentive is aptly named “Vax and Relax” and allows anyone over the age of 12 to receive a haircut and tickets to the American theme park chain, Six Flags, in exchange for a shot of the Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

Many health experts have concluded that many people form disadvantaged areas with low-income families cannot afford to take time off work or travel to vaccination sites – and this opportunity allows people not only to receive the healthcare they are entitled to, but are also rewarded for it.

On June the 13^th (2021) Andis hosted their second Copy the Cut Challenge on Zoom. Across the United States battled virtually to “copy” the 1921 Fade from Andis’ FLUID Vol. 2 book. The prizes for the competition were as follows: 1st Place: $500, 2nd Place: $300, 3rd Place: $200. The judging was broken down into subsequent categories – 1) Overall look 2) Quality of fade 3) Precision of lining 4) Quality of styling/finishing techniques.

And the winners are as follows:

1st Place 
Brandon Negron
Instagram: @philly_barber
Shop: Philly Barber Studios, Philadelphia, PA

2nd Place
Marvin Johnson
Instagram: @Organic_ju1ce
Shop: Hall of Fades Barbershop, Largo, FL

3rd Place 
Eddieberto Martinez 
Instagram: @t3chneek
Shop: Techneek Studios, Philadelphia, PA

Guest judge Kristal Jnaz posted this to her Instagram after the competition came to its exciting close “What a time. A barber battle through Zoom?! Same firing passion, hard work and dedication to execute the cleanest cut. I’ve attended barber battles since cosmetology school back in 2014 and it’s amazing to see how we adjust with time.”

The competition is still available to watch on Andis Instagram page, @andisclippers, and they have announced the next competition will take place in August! Good luck to all the hopefuls out there, and congratulations to the new Andis Master, Brandon Negron!

American Crew™, the Official Supplier to Men™, has announced that Thomas Mitchell has been named as the U.S. Winner of the 2021 All-Star Challenge in the first-round of the brand’s highly-anticipated global grooming competition. Additionally, Ryan White has also been named as the Challenge’s first ever Student category winner.

Participants from all around the globe are encouraged to showcase their extraordinary skill and technique in creating original hair looks using American Crew products to embody both the timeless feel of the brand, but also something trendy and current – with both aspects perfectly capturing the brands essence.

“Despite the many challenges the grooming community and salon industry faced during the global pandemic, these Professionals never cease to amaze us with their creativity and talent. We are honored to have given professionals an outlet where they could bring their originality and imagination during a challenging year,” said American Crew Founder, David Raccuglia. “These countries’ winners brought their A-game on creating fresh, elevated looks and I, along with the rest of the All-Star Challenge Global Committee have our work cut out for them as we move forward with selecting five global winners of the competition. We are also thrilled with the submissions that came through the Challenge’s new Student category and are proud to give upcoming professionals a platform to show their work and gain recognition.”

As the All-Star Challenge progresses, the cut and style created by Thomas Mitchell will be submitted to the American Crew™ All-Star Challenge Global Committee for consideration, which consists of David Raccuglia, Founder of American Crew™, Paul Wilson, Global Artistic Director; Phoenix Thomson, Global Education Director; and Luke Munn, 2019-2020 Australian All Star Challenge Winner. The panel of extremely qualified judges will deliberate with the following criteria: Barbering: mastery of clipper skills, fading and shaving; High Texture: ability to display technical skills, shape, and control whilst working with highly textured hair; Length: excellence in cutting and styling hair with length while maintaining a masculine edge; Retro: ability to recreate a classic cut from the past, with technical excellence in cutting and styling; and Trend: ability to be creative and think ahead by producing a shape or style that could become a trend, the committee will name five top competitors as the 2021 Global All-Star Challenge Winners.

Along with receiving the fantastic prize of $5,000 reward, the winner will also receive an all expenses paid trip to Barcelona, Spain they will be whisked away in style to participate in an editorial shoot directed and shoot by hair and photography legend, David Raccuglia. The winner will be announced in June 2021. The Student category winner will receive $2,000 value in product and merchandise, as well as invaluable one-on-one training session with a seasoned American Crew All-Star Educator.

Sunderland barbershop owner, Shado Hasso and brother Basil, to offer free haircuts to those with disabilities as a way ‘to give back to the community’.

The brothers, who both own their own Star barbershops respectively, have joined together to dive into the charitable venture together. Shado had even went into care homes pre-pandemic to give free haircuts but currently is unable to continue this.

He has been offering the free service to those who have disabilities which make it difficult to earn an income to afford the expenditure such as a haircut and has done for the last four years.

“We want as many people to know so that more people can benefit from it” says Shado. He also states that the service is for anyone with any disability and at any age, and that they don’t even have to book beforehand.

They have been praised by both locals and people online for the hard work and kindness, receiving messages of positive affirmation on Facebook and by their patrons.

City Image Barbers announced today, 9th of June 2021, that they will be providing all of their full-time employees with healthcare throughout their nine locations.

In very powerful video they posted on their Instagram today, they presented their employees with the news that they will now receive a benefits package including; free healthcare, free dental, free vision, paid sick time, paid vacation time, and 401k benefits.

They addressed that the barbering industry was far behind in regards to proper healthcare, and given the state of the world over the last year and a half they made it a personal mission to make sure that their workers were now taken care of.

They say “We decided to make it our personal mission to put this on our shoulders and push the industry forward and set the standard not just for our company, but for the entire industry as a whole”.

The barbering chain managed to achieve this momentous triumph with no funding from outside investment.

The link to the video is posted below, please go and like and follow –

https://www.instagram.com/p/CP4RZ_OBrpi/

image: https://www.facebook.com/cityimagecaldwell/

Exauce Imbo discovered a love and passion for hair from a very young age.

He watched his father in awe growing up while his friends came over to the family home to get their hair done, Imbo considered what he saw to be nothing short of an art form.

With years and years of persuaded hair cuts on his brothers he is now established himself as one of Glasgow’s (Scotland) black haircare barbers – a title which also follows with a list of celebrity clients, which include Celtic Footballer, Odsonne Edouard, Rangers Footballer, Jermain Defoe as well as reality TV stars, Wes Nelson and Chris Biggs.

Even with the risk of opening his first shop during the global pandemic, he knew that he owed it to his 14-year-old self to keeping going, for the both of them.

In his interview with BBC Radio Scotland, Exauce told Stephan Jardine how his family – specifically his brothers helped pav the way for his success.

He goes on to say “”I had plenty of disasters along the way. But you learn from it”, also jokingly says that due to both his brothers being younger, they had no choice other than to go along with it.

Having now at the age of 19 launching his own shop near Ibrox football stadium Exauce informs the morning show that he has been fully booked both over June and July, finishing with “It comes down to the craft itself. If you are giving out a good service, a good haircut, if you communicate with your client and they like it they will come back to you. If they don’t, they won’t”.

Chicago-based barber, Deshon Mcadory, has been charged with first-degree murder of former patron Christian McDougald. The shooting took place at Mcadory’s barber shop.

The Chicago-based barber has been accused of shooting a customer for not paying the $15 for his haircut.

The Chicago Sunday Times reported on Sunday that Mcadory has been held on bail valued at $250,000, the 40-year-old is being charged with first degree murder of his 31-year-old former client.

McDougald started arguing with barbers in Mcadory’s barber shop, which is located in the Chicago-based suburb, Maywood at around 4pm. It has been reported that McDougald followed Mcadory into the back of his shop, which is where the incident took place.

After being rushed to Loyola University Medical Centre, but was pronounced dead at the establishment. Anthony Burch, Mcadory’s attorney, explained to the court that Mcadory is a licensed gun-carrier, and was retreating to the back of the shop when he was followed, he also categorised McDougald as an “aggressor”.

Burch then went on to present Mcadory as a model citizen and member of his community with strong business ties, while highlighting McDougald had two previous convictions.

Mcadory’s business partner was also charged in connection with the shooting, 43-year-old Samuel Williams also appeared at court on Sunday for unlawful use of a weapon by a felon. His bail is set at $25,500.

Black-owned salons and barber shops are set to be turned into possible COVID vaccine sites, says Health officials.

City Health Officials and the National Association, as part of a White House initiative, has established a plan to help train Black-owned hair salons and barber shops to help provide accurate information and dish out vaccines where possible, along with providing information says Lori Tremmel Freeman, Chief Executive Officer of NACCHO.

On Wednesday the Biden Administration said they were teaming up with multiple organisations such as the Black Coalition Against COVID, the University of Maryland Centre for Health Equity, and the Shea Moisture company. The initiative is to be called “Shots at the shop” is to engage black-owned barbers and salons throughout America to promote vaccine education and have local outreach.

This could be an indicator as to why salons and barbers have been chosen to host these educational events, Freeman goes on “The role that NACCHO’s going to play is trying to match barber shops and beauty shops with local health departments, so that we can forge a relationship there and figure out if any of these business locations can also become vaccination sites or what it would take for that to happen”.

For generations salons and barbers have been safe havens for African American people, especially in the time of segregation. They could gather in numbers feel safe in their community, and now decades later the safe space of feeling continues and discuss topics such as health and wellbeing.

Lincolnway Barber Shop in Plainfield, Illinois is celebrating its amazing 140^th birthday by treating its customer to haircuts costing $1.40!

“This barbershop is 140-years-old, pretty much in the same spot in Plainfield, Illinois, and I’m the fourth generation to own it.” Said owner Don Kinley.

Mr Kinley still sweeps the floors and cutting a few heads at the Lincoln Way Barber Shop in Plainfield, just as many of his family did before him; grandfather, and great-grandfather who first bought the shop in 1881.

Kinley then goes on to say, “It’s probably maybe one of the oldest businesses, family owned, in the state of Illinois.”

Albert Worst, Don’s great grandfather, bought the barbershop in the very same street in Plainfield block 140 years ago this week, and back in the day it was so much more than just another place to get a haircut.

“It was the place where people gathered,” says Sharon, Kinley’s Wife.” It was the place where people would express their views on everything. It was political. It was about all those things and what’s happening with the farms and businesses in town and all.”

Regular customer, Paul Fey, says “”It’s an anchor in the community. Trusted family. Trusted name. And a trusted haircut,” he has been coming back for 35 years.

On Sunday they start the festivities with family, former workers, and to top it all off, a barber shop quartet. They also start their promotional $1.40 haircuts.

“I loved what I did. It wasn’t work or anything and still made a few bucks. Never dreaded a day going to work.” Kindley says finally – and that he plans on leaving the business to his children and grandchildren.