Barber launches mental health support for barbers: Care Behind the Chair

Oran Lasocki has launched a supportive network for those working within the barbering and hairdressing industry called ‘Care Behind The Chair’.

“We all focus on supporting our clients and providing a safe space for them to discuss their feelings and experiences of mental health, we rarely consider our own mental health as an industry. This network will facilitate informal sharing and conversation opportunities for those who have or are currently experiencing mental health illness in any form. Through coffee and conversation events held digitally, CBTC aims to be whatever users need or want it to be. I am keen to hear from readers about what this network could look like, what potential users might find helpful, and how shops and businesses could get involved.”

Our values:

• All welcome – everyone has a place in CBTC
• Confidential – when signing up to an event, everyone agrees to respect the privacy and confidentiality of their fellow users.
• No judgements – everyone in attendance will create a safe and welcoming environment for each other to share.
• Supportive – everyone in attendance will provide a supportive environment to their fellow users.

Oran is a 29-year-old from Aberdeen, Scotland, living in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, and now managing at Barber Barber UK in Spitalfields London. Oran has been barbering for eight years, managing to work in some of the best shops and companies in the UK.

“I have always poured my time and efforts into my work, which had been somewhat a cover for how I was feeling and how my mental health was. In 2020 and alongside the pandemic I was diagnosed with clinical depression and high anxiety, I went to work with meds and therapy straight away which has been a positive step in my journey.“

“I slowly started to tell friends, family and colleagues, which sparked a question, ‘why aren’t there any social or wellbeing networks for people in our industry?’. Which is why I wanted to start Care Behind The Chair. We put on a brave face and leave our issues at the door while we are at work making sure that every client gets the best experience possible, but now this will be a space for us to get together and voice our worries and talk about our mental and physical wellbeing.”

“I need your help to get this network off the ground, I want it to be created by us and for us. If you want or need anyone to talk to, please do not hesitate to reach out to me on carebehindthechair@gmail.com or if you are interested in helping and joining the network to help it positively grow.”

Email Contact: carebehindthechair@gmail.com

Wahl Professional Announces Release of New 5 Star Barber Dryer

Equipped with two heat and speed settings, this professional dryer is designed for the busy barber.

May 25, 2021 (Sterling, IL) –  Wahl Professional is excited to announce the release of its newest tool, the 5 Star Barber Dryer. This innovative dryer is created for the barber who wants to take their styling techniques to the next level.

The 5 Star Barber Dryer comes with two heat and speed settings, a cool shot button, two nozzle attachments, a professional rotary motor, and a nine-foot cord that allows barbers to create finished looks in a matter of minutes. When developing the dryer, Wahl was inspired to leverage its leadership and deep experience in the field to create an indispensable tool for professional barbers everywhere. Each performance feature on the dryer plays an essential role in the creative process: Speed for shape control, heat for efficiency and smoothing and the cool shot button for freezing styles into place. With a $99 price tag, this innovative 5 Star Barber Dryer is affordable and available for purchase on Wahl’s website here.

Disruptour Team educator Trevor Moots (@tailorfade) says, “This tool completes Wahl’s arsenal, giving barbers everything, we need to be successful behind the chair. Each tool Wahl creates complements the next.”

While regular blow dryers are suitable for medium to long hair, this retro chrome-finished tool is designed for short to medium-length hair. This new dryer is also designed to work with the 1919 Styling and Finishing line, including Wahl educators’ favorites the Matte Control Cream, Fiber Paste, and Firm Hold Gel. As for Trevor Moots, his favorite 1919 product is the Thickening Styling Cream because it gives him shape and control as he blow-dries a client’s hair in place.

Though this dryer was created with the barber in mind, it’s also perfect for hairstylists looking to step up their finished looks on shorter hair. Moots notes that this tool will help hair professionals further express their individual creativity.

“The most exciting thing to me is being able to watch what people create and see how this tool will elevate and shape men’s grooming. As artists, this tool will enhance the art of barbering and styling in ways none of us thought possible,” says Moots.

“Wahl is always looking for new ways to solve a problem for the barbering and stylist community,” says Senior Marketing Associate, Aaron Flick. “For over 100 years, we have been at the forefront of product innovation and quality tools. We are excited to provide a tool that will assist in creating and perfecting the artists’ finished looks.”

As Wahl continues to lead the industry with high-quality products, innovation doesn’t stop there. Along with creating tools, the clipper manufacturer also places a great emphasis on high-quality education. Whether the education is focused on proper tool techniques, retail business, or even how to create editorial looks, Wahl has something for every level of barber and stylist.

To learn more on how to use the 5 Star Barber Dryer click here to see Trevor Moots give an instructional how-to video on how to use the dryer correctly to create quality, finished looks. The product is now available for purchase on Wahl’s website here. For more information about Wahl Professional, visit the website at WahlPro.com or follow them on Instagram (@wahlpro).

The TPS Barber Academy has recently reopened after being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic this year. 30 students are currently enrolled, training hard to become the next generation of barbers.

But as demand is down due to the pandemic and social distancing restrictions, the Academy is seeing fewer customers coming in and the students are struggling to meet their requirements. Director of adult education Larry Warniment, explained:

“It’s a little over a year program to get through. It’s 1800-hours in the shop and in the classroom combined. We do haircuts, scalp manipulation, and shampoos. Currently, we are not doing facial shaves because of COVID-19.”

At the moment, the Barber Academy is offering free services until further notice in order to pick up more custom and give students more chance of getting jobs in shops and salons. Although the instructors at the academy acknowledge the stigma behind letting a student barber cut hair, they’re hopeful that customers will have an open mind. Intructor Zonta Moore said:

“You know, we want people to come in and to allow the students to get that experience, so that way when they get into the shop, they’ve already bumped their head in school, and they don’t have to worry about bumping their head out in the shop.”

The Barber Academy is taking appointments Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 4 PM. To make an appointment for a free haircut, call (419) 671-8700.

A cutting-edge first phase of Digbeth’s new lifestyle complex is to open mid-October, powered by barber appointment booking software, Booksy.

BOOKSY UK is excited to announce the partnership with art.barbers – the first element of an innovative lifestyle complex, art.quarter, to launch – on the 16th of October 2020 in Digbeth, Birmingham. art.barbers will offer the highest quality barbering to men in Birmingham, whilst utilising Booksy’s health and beauty appointment booking system, with a plethora of COVID-conscious features to provide the ultimate barber shop experience.

“Booksy UK is proud to partner with art.quarter for the innovative launch of their first phase opening, art.barbers. Going to the barbers is no longer just popping in for a quick trim – it’s an important, imperative part of the modern man’s lifestyle. The overall client experience from seamless multi-channel booking, right through to post-appointment engagement has to be carefully considered to set a business apart from the rest – every step of the client’s experience counts.

Now when a visit out of the house is a much more considered trip, our end
users are looking for every opportunity to enjoy themselves in the safest
possible way – which is exactly what art.barber will offer. Clients want to immerse themselves in a stylish, unique environment that reflects the high level of skill sets from the team members, as well as being confident that the venue has their safety in mind with plenty of COVID-19 precautions in place, so both clients and barbers will have true peace of mind knowing they have taken every precaution to make safety a priority”, say Megan Mackie, UK Marketing Manager, Booksy UK.

art.quarter’s founder, Jordan Patel, expressed his excitement about the
opening, saying, “It’s great to be able to offer a beacon of hope in these
extremely trying times for the city. Coronavirus has had such a massive impact on the high-street, so to be in a position to open a business in this time and provide both employment and training to this number of people in the process, is a real blessing”.

art.barbers will form just the first part of art.quarter’s wider retail and lifestyle complex; comprising also of a women’s beauty salon, café, bakery, events space and food court. The next stages of the development are due to open later in 2020.

Left to Right: Mentor Terrance Henigan, His & Hers Barber School Owner, José Gardea, Sebastian Moore, Andre Whittington, His & Hers Barber School Instructor, Irene Youngblood, and Mentor Brenda Potts gathered to support the two graduates as they received their certificates last December in 2019.

Wahl Clipper Corporation’s Professional division, Chicago social service organization UCAN, and local business Larry’s Barber College are pleased to announce the awarding of scholarships to four new students as part of the Wahl Professional Fade it ForwardTM scholarship program. The event will take place on Tuesday, September 22, at 10 a.m. at UCAN, 3605 W. Fillmore St., Chicago, IL 60624.

In December 2019, Wahl Professional welcomed its first graduates of the philanthropic program, Andre Whittington, and Sebastian Moore, of Chicago, IL as they completed their barber college program at His & Hers Barber School. Both Whittington and Moore went through a challenging 13-month program that prepared them for their future careers as barbers and entrepreneurs.

For Chicago, this is the second group of Fade It Forward ^TM students to go through the program and will be furthering their education at Larry’s Barber College, 701 E. 79th Street in Chicago. The students going through this second installation of the program are Amari Brown, Brandon Williams, Dakota Newton-Powell, and Colby Taylor. Each of these students will be supported throughout the program by UCAN as well as a mentor – a professional barber in the Chicago area – who will help guide the students and give them their first experience working in the industry.

“The Fade It Forward^TM program is as much about supporting our at-risk youth as it is about helping them become professional barbers,” says Garland Fox, barber and Wahl Education and Artistic Team (W.E.A.T.) member. “We’re fortunate to partner with UCAN, which provides the ongoing support the students need as they progress through their barber education.”

For Fox, the creation of this philanthropic program is about giving back to the next generation, as he once was homeless, and credits becoming a barber as something that changed his life for the better. Fox’s inspiration and determination to help youth gain better lives is not only taking root in the Chicago area, but Wahl Professional has started the program in St. Louis, MO, and plans to expand to Cleveland, OH in 2021.

Visit wahlpro.com/education/fadeitforward for more information on the program and event.

To celebrate their 10^th birthday, leading men’s grooming brand The Bluebeards Revenge is proud to announce a business-wide packaging rebrand, aimed at improving recyclability and reducing waste for a cleaner future.

This exciting movement begins with a promise from the brand to “drastically reduce the amount of virgin plastic and single-use packaging” they use by 2022.

The first product to receive an eco makeover is the brand’s best-selling Pre-Shave Oil, which now features a 100% recycled plastic bottle and a newly designed label.

On the decision to radically redesign the brand’s packaging, Managing Director David Hildrew said: “The world around us is changing. As an established global brand we have a responsibility to ourselves and our customers to do as much as possible to minimise any negative effects on the environment.

“We are very proud of the steps we’ve taken with our newly designed Pre-Shave Oil and its 100% recycled plastic bottle. But this is just the beginning. Our new Pre-Shave Oil will soon be joined by a whole host of other exciting changes that’ll help to move our brand into the future in a responsible way.”

One of those additional changes will see the introduction of a new series of 150ml aluminium tins; to replace the current 100ml plastic tubs that the brand uses for its shaving and styling supplies. “These reinforced tins are infinitely recyclable and larger than our previous versions,” added Mr Hildrew. “We’ll also be encouraging all of our customers to get creative, finding new and exciting ways to repurpose our tins, rather than throwing them away.”

In recent years, plastic consumption has become a major concern for consumers. In fact, a recent survey by YouGov revealed that 46% of Britons feel guilty about their plastic consumption, while 82% are working hard to reduce the amount they throw away.

These statistics were supported by a consumer survey The Bluebeards Revenge carried out in late 2019, when more than 80% of responses confirmed that the environmental impacts of the products they purchased were important to them.

One big development to the brand’s new look is the absence of their iconic cartons. “Removing our products from their cartons was an incredibly difficult decision,” admits Mr Hildrew, “but it’s a decision we’re confident is for the best.”

When asked whether they’d prefer to see the brand’s products in or out of a carton, 56% of those surveyed voted for the latter. “Much of the feedback we received about our cartons in the build up to this rebrand suggested that, once opened, they were simply recycled or binned by end-users,” explained Mr Hildrew. “With this in mind, we’ve made the brave decision to remove this single-use packaging from as much of our brand as possible. We hope that this will help to drastically reduce any wastage our products create, while still maintaining the strong shelf presence our skull and crossbones logo is known for.”

Do you wake up in the morning with the pile of messages on various social media and manually cope with your appointments armed with a pencil and notebook? Or you already using one of the digital booking and salon management providers, yet want to come out of the provider’s shadow and grow your brand instead of the aggregator provider’s one? Barberly has stepped up their game to help barbershops grow their client audience through convenient digital tools.

“We are a Swiss software company with a focus on bringing digital value to barbers all over the world. It seemed like a half-baked concept that just might have legs, I thought one day. Now Babrberly onboards 600+ barbershops, 70K bookings for a total value of USD15 Mio. My team and I personally appreciate each barber/ barbershop owner for entrusting Barberly to give a wing to their flight to success.” – Andrew Gubal, Barberly founder and CEO.

• Reach out to every potential client: User-friendly intuitive tools like a personalized mobile application on App Store and Google Play, that simplifies bookings for your clients, promotes positive brand image and even makes you a trendsetter for the peers – stand out from the crowd with the bright mobile app design and own logo, present your team in creative photos, upload lookbooks of best works, visualise and describe your services with photos, and many more ways to customise your mobile application. To reach and engage new clients for your business through a QR poster so that passers-by can book-in in a few clicks.
  
• Cement clients’ loyalty: Show that you care and save time for your clients. Go digital and easily reachable – Mobile app, website, fast booking page on social media, booking Self check-in kiosks, QR posters. Manage the client database with the client LogIn functionality, add notes, client’s favourite services, send confirmations/notifications, newsletters. Launch the loyalty program, further manage bonuses. Enable secured payments. Sell client favourite products online. Propose a waiting list or house/hotel calls (e.g. wedding grooming).
  
• Simple and efficient management of your daily business routine. Barberly web portal is the main management tool for setting your barbershop up and running and making changes needed – add and modify services, barbers, working schedules, start your mobile app or redesign it, set the cancellation policies to get a refund for no-show, activate payments and many more. Also, book your clients on the go with the Barberly business mobile app – a handy way for owners and barbers to manage the appointments.

Being there to support you with prompt customer service, building reliable software, praising customer feedback and building on the criticism are the three pillars that Barberly Team leans on.

“Great appointment app. Was really worried about going to appointments! This appointment app makes it so easy to set up and use. The customer service was great and very patient with me! Well done! Just go for it!!” – Dave S., salon owner

“1947 loves Barberly! I absolutely think this is the best platform on the market. The team and the application itself is amazing! I’ve received nothing but great feedback from our mobile app! This platform is extremely user friendly and the team is super responsive, which makes the overall experience exceptional!” – Terrance M., salon owner

Visit Barberly’s website for more product details, and find out how to become a partner. Follow @BarberlyCom on Instagram and stay tuned for more great features to follow.

The annual event will no longer take place this year, and instead will reconvene next year. Premier Show Group released a statement yesterday, Tuesday 8th September:

“Premiere Orlando is not just an event that happens over a handful of days, it’s a community. It is OUR beauty community. The COVID-19 outbreak has had an unprecedented impact on the beauty industry, and as a result we have come to the decision to reschedule Premiere Orlando to 2021 and take the next steps to ensure a safe and productive return to Orlando. We look forward to seeing you next year on June 5-7, 2021! Those who have purchased a show pass will be eligible for a ticket exchange or a full refund.”

Visit the event website for more details on the event, including show information and travel details.

The National Hair & Beauty Federation (NHBF) has released the results of its recent State of Industry survey, conducted across hair and beauty salons and barbershops throughout the UK. The results are now being used to put pressure on the government to support the hair and barbering industry to avoid a significant loss of jobs and closure of businesses that currently contribute over £7.5bn in turnover for the UK economy.

The survey, which was undertaken between the 20th and 31st August received 2,018 responses. The widely held view of those within the sector is that government is dismissive of the hair and beauty industry, does not understand it or those working within it, and underestimates the sector’s value. One in four responses stated ‘I don’t feel [the government] understand our industry at all’.

Despite re-opening at the beginning of July, three in four salons and barbershops reported that business was down compared to the same period last year. Two thirds expected business to remain slow based on their forthcoming bookings for the next three months, with 35% genuinely worried about how little business they have coming up. Of most concern from the results was that 41% could not say if their business would survive until Christmas. 

Whilst not many had yet made redundancies, almost a third said they expected to cut staff in the next three months and 44% could not guarantee job security. Already staff have seen their hours reduced (55% across hair and beauty but an alarming 74% in the beauty sector alone) with recruiting either new employees or taking on apprentices – despite financial incentives – looking hugely unlikely. 

The beauty sector has been particularly impacted due to the extra time they have been forced to close and the bans on treatments around the face, with some treatments still prohibited in the devolved nations. Based on their current workload and the operational restrictions within the government guidelines, 40% of businesses in the beauty sector were not earning enough to cover outgoings such as rent, overheads, staff costs and stock. One in four businesses across the entire hair and beauty sector also reported they could not cover their costs.

Hilary Hall (pictured above), NHBF chief executive said, “Whilst the survey results paint a bleak picture this does not have to be the case. The recovery of the hair and beauty sector is dependent on additional help from the government.  We continue to campaign hard, calling on the government to provide extra support as they have for hospitality. We expect them to consider additional measures such as hardship grants, VAT reductions, further extensions to business rate reliefs, restraint on proposed wage increases and other measures for sectors like ours that can only offer greatly reduced services, putting the longer-term survival of businesses and thousands of jobs at risk.”

For more information and FAQs, please visit www.nhbf.co.uk/coronavirus and follow the National Hair & Beauty Federation on social at @nhbfsocial.

Shortcut announced on 1st September the launch of its in-home haircutting services in the UK through a partnership with London-based barbershop Joe & Co. and The Lounge. With this, Joe & Co can now deliver haircuts and services to clients in the comfort and safety of their homes by booking through the Shortcut app.

“Yes people have been desperate for haircuts, but no matter where you live, there’s trepidation when it comes to visiting a potentially crowded establishment,” said Shortcut Co-Founder and COO Will Newton. “Our platform allows haircare professionals and their customers to control the environments they interact in. By partnering with retailers like Joe & Co., we aim to empower brick and mortar haircare providers and their staff to meet–and hopefully exceed–their pre-COVID revenue streams under a model that’s reflective of our new reality.”

“As an industry we need to be dynamic to survive. Similar to US hair pros, our men’s hairdressers have been especially impacted by COVID-19,” said Joe Mills, owner of Joe & Co. and The Lounge in Central London. “While we are trying to get back to a new normal, it’s key we respond to client demands and ensure they are getting a first-class, professional service, without affecting the classical salon structure to move the business forward. Shortcut gives our stylists the opportunity to connect with their regulars and meet new clients outside of the barbershop’s walls, while allowing owners to take control, maximise their income potential, and protect the business.”

Joe & Co. is a contemporary barbershop based in London Soho offering men’s barbering services. Established in 2010, Joe & Co. has been voted Best Men’s London Barber by Esquire, GQ, and Time Out.

Keep up to date with Joe & Co. on Instagram @joeandcosoho, and with Shortcut @shortcut.