Dre Perrin, the owner of Bespoke Men’s Spa in Teaneck, New Jersey, has been honored for his work in weaving together his diverse community. 

Dre has had a street corner renamed after him, it is now called Bespoke / Dre Perrin Way on the corner of Queen Anne Road. Dre’s shop is the oldest black-owned business in Teaneck. 

One of his regular clients describes Dre as being like the mayor of Teaneck. Dre says: “When you walk through the door we don’t talk about politics, religion, sexuality, or race, everyone here is equal, that’s why its so peaceful in here.

“When I first started around here there was a black barbershop, a white shop and a Jewish shop, but I wanted to create diversity so I do everyone’s hair. There’s no hair type I haven’t cut, curly, kinky, or straight. I hired a diverse range of barbers too. I have Latino, White, Dominican, and Jewish barbers here. 

Dre is the first African American man to have a street named after him in Teaneck and does all he can to help the community including sponsoring a Jewish hockey team, (they won the championship this year, that made him happy!) he’s always cheering on others and that’s one of the reasons he has been honored in this way.

There’s a new place to get a haircut in downtown Quincy, MA, and the owners said they want to give you the traditional barbershop experience your grandfather might’ve had when he was just a boy.

Master barber Matthew Thomas, at Gold Line Barbershop, at 830 Maine Street, said their company started out in 2015 in California with a mission to re-create the classic American barbershop with vintage cash registers, traditional barber equipment like antique chairs and more.

He said some of the services they offer are also vintage.

“Straight shaves, skin fades, traditional classic men’s hairstyles. We specialize in all classic men’s hairstyles we do the greaser 50’s haircuts. We do the classic 1920’s haircuts; and we also do a lot of modern cuts as well,” said Thomas.

Thomas said they plan to renovate the storefront with a new gold flake design. They said they signed a long term lease and hope to be in the community long term.

Good luck to Matthew and the team from all at BarberEVO!

North York Community Council, Toronto, has passed a motion to rename a street after a local barber and musician.

The new Jimmy Wisdom Way, which will replace Locksley Avenue from Eglinton West to Hopewell, is named after a renowned member of Toronto’s Jamaican Community.

Wisdom was a talented musician, active community member and leader who helped many newcomers ‘from his barber’s chair’ for more than 35 years.

The street is located right by Wisdom’s barbershop to honour his life and legacy. 

“We are grateful to Councillor Colle for his recognition and leadership to honour our father, affectionately known as Jimmy Wisdom,” said his daughter Ninfa Wisdom.

Wisdom passed away in 2019, but his shop attracted a wide range of clients.

“In renaming this street ‘Jimmy Wisdom Way’ next to where he worked, mentored, and inspired in his barbershop for over 35 years, we honour a man who devoted his whole life to celebrating and respecting his Jamaican roots and culture and weaving this into Toronto’s fabric,” said Mike Colle, Ward 8 councillor who presented the motion.

A four-week close services lockdown has been announced by the First Minister in Northern Ireland. Hair, beauty, barbering and mobile businesses will close from Friday, 16th October at 6pm, unless there is a medical need for these services.

The NHBF is pressing the Northern Ireland Government for urgent clarification on what financial support will be available to our sector and how this will be made available for those who most need it.

Richard Lambert, chief executive of the NHBF said: “It is hugely disappointing that this announcement has been made without any mention of specific financial support. We urgently need assurances from the Northern Ireland Executive that as a minimum they will be providing cash grants for businesses required to close in local lockdowns similar to that of the rest of the UK (England is up to £3,000 per month for each business forced to close). The hair and beauty industry is already under immense strain and many salon and barbershop owners are worried about the survival of their businesses, and the jobs of their employees.”

The NHBF has continued to lobby the UK government and those in the devolved nations to demonstrate that the reopening of close contact services such as those within hair and beauty has not contributed to the current rise in Coronavirus cases. In a recent NHBF poll, an overwhelming 96% of salons and barbershops in Northern Ireland had not been contacted via Test, Trace and Protect (4,107).

The hair and beauty sector has a significant role to play in maintaining the overall health and wellbeing of the public.” With it highly likely that the country will be living with Coronavirus for some time, it is absolutely essential that services such as ours remain operational to support the mental, physical and emotional wellbeing of the general public through this crisis.”

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Arlene Foster said: “The Executive has given careful and painstaking consideration of the right blend of actions that will do maximum damage to the virus but minimum harm to life chances today and tomorrow.

“We understand that these interventions will be hard, but they will not be in place for a moment longer than they need to be. I would ask everyone to work with us to save lives and protect our health service.”

The BarberEVO team wish every barber and salon professional the best of luck as you navigate these tricky times. We are so proud of the immense resiliency shown by all in this industry throughout 2020 and are in no doubt that you will continue to adapt, and most importantly, overcome all challenges!

Tom Chapman, founder of The Lions Barber Collective, has announced that they have received a £30,000 grant from The National Lottery in the UK, which will go toward training more than 100 barbers in ‘barber talk training’ in conjunction with World Mental Health Day.

Tom says: “This awards allows us to train more barbers to recognise the signs if someone is struggling, to ask the questions we may be scared to ask, to listen with empathy and without judgement and give them the knowledge to signpost people on to the help they may need.”

Furthermore, The Lions Barber Collective has been working with Exeter College recently and hope to take the training into other colleges with the aim of training the next generation of the hair industry in these skills.

Tom concludes: “I am grateful to everyone in our industry who has ever asked those difficult questions, don’t be scared to talk about mental health.”

We salute Tom and the team of Lions for all of the amazing work they do to support people throughout the UK and beyond.

Leading professional barbering and grooming tools manufacturer Andis Company has released a striking new copper edition of its best selling ProFoil® Lithium Titanium Foil Shaver.

The tool’s sleek new metallic copper colourway paired with professional-grade power and low-irritation titanium foils makes this a must-have cordless shaver for barbers and men’s grooming specialists that demand reliable power, consistent performance and outstanding results.

“The Profoil® Li Shaver is the perfect solution for finishing a close cut and achieving a sharp, clean look without using a straight razor,” said Angie Perino, Andis Global Education Manager. “It’s the ideal tool for professional barbers and men’s stylists who need to achieve a close shave all day long.”

The ProFoil® Lithium Plus Titanium Shaver achieves super-smooth results and improved hair feed due to a tiered head design featuring two rows of independent cutting blades. A close shave with less irritation and bumps is a result of the gold titanium hypoallergenic foils, engineered to maintain their shape better and last longer. This lightweight, compact shaver delivers a powerful, quiet performance using a lithium-ion battery that delivers up to 80 minutes of runtime on a single charge. The shaver is ideal for both left and right-handed users thanks to a centrally located power switch controlled easily by the thumb.

For almost 100 years, Andis® Company has been a leader and innovator in the men’s grooming industry with its innovative technology and top-tier educational offerings. Andis offers free online educational resources at master-barberschool.com where barbers can learn new tips and techniques.

Discover the Copper ProFoil® Li Plus Titanium Foil Shaver at www.andis.com

Six students were awarded a life changing opportunity recently, by  Wahl Clipper Corporation’s Professional division and social service organization Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis to attend barber school at Antonio’s Barber College and St. Charles Barber College as part of the Wahl Professional Fade it Forward^TM program. The innovative program provides mentorship and support to at-risk youth with the goal of helping them achieve their dreams of becoming professional barbers and entrepreneurs.

The six students selected to receive scholarships from the Sterling, IL-based clipper manufacturer are Korey Cole, Pereze Dodd, Tyla Garrett, Jawaad Spann, Edric Hodges, and Charisma Jordan.

The students didn’t know that Wahl Education and Artistic Team (W.E.A.T.) member, Garland ‘G-Whiz’ Fox would be there to surprise and welcome them to the Wahl family. Fox gave each student their scholarship certificate and a gift bag of Wahl Professional tools for each student to use during barber school.

Before beginning classes at Antonio’s Barber College and St. Charles Barber College, Cole, Dodd, Garrett, Spann, Hodges, and Jordan will have completed a four-week mentorship program with professional barbers in the St. Louis area. 

“The goal always has been to expand Fade It Forward to other areas, and now we have with our first class in St. Louis. This program was designed to help youth who just need the opportunity to get out of their current situations and further change the trajectory of their lives,” says Fox.

The Fade It Forward program has started its first year in St. Louis and its second year in Chicago with plans underway to begin in Cleveland in 2021. For more information go to https://wahlpro.com/education/fadeitforward/. 

OSMO®, a leading collection of professional colour, care and styling products, have launched a series of unique training courses in the UK designed to aid stylists and barbers to give them the power and confidence to create.

Full course details are listed below:

Wild About Colour
For all colourists wanting to develop their advanced colouring and vivid colour techniques with OSMO IKON® Color Psycho and Colour Revive.
Date: 12th October 2020
Place: Wilkins & Stroud Hair & Beauty, Unit 1, Newport South Business Park, Middlesborough, TS1 5QN
Price: £25

https://osmo.uk.com/education/training-courses/course/wild-about-colour

Colour Discovery
For beginner colourists wanting to gain greater confidence using OSMO IKON® permanent hair colours.
Date: 13th October 2020
Place: Wilkins & Stroud Hair & Beauty, Unit 1, Newport South Business Park, Middlesborough, TS1 5QN
Price: £25

https://www.osmo.uk.com/education/training-courses/course/colour-techniques

Colour Techniques
For all colourists to continue mastering modern colouring techniques and personalised finishes.
Date: 25th October 2020
Place: Hair & Beauty Supplies, Unit 11, 31 Coatbank St, Coatbridge, ML5 3SP
Price: £25

https://www.osmo.uk.com/education/training-courses/course/colour-techniques

Colour Correction
For experienced colourists to gain understanding of performing corrective hair assessment.
Date: 26th October 2020
Place: Wilkins & Stroud Hair & Beauty, Unit 1, Newport South Business Park, Middlesborough, TS1 5QN
Price: £25 

https://www.osmo.uk.com/education/training-courses/course/colour-correction

Sport Clips barbershops has been the primary supporter of the Veterans of Foreign War’s (VFWs) “Sport Clips Help A Hero Scholarship” program since 2013, providing scholarships for service members and veterans for use at post-secondary schools and trade schools. To date they have awarded 1,750 scholarships totalling $8 million.

This year, from October 12th through to December 5th, Sport Clips stores around the country will be collecting donations in-store to help fund these life-changing scholarships. More than 80% of the funds raised each year come directly from generous clients, with the balance coming from suppliers and product partners.

On Veterans Day, November 11th, participating Sport Clips locations will provide free haircuts to veterans and active duty service members as well as donating $1 for every haircut service provided on that day.

Scholarship recipients come from every part of the United States, represent every branch of service and are earning a variety of degrees including engineering, computer science, business, accounting, health care and many more. Last year’s annual promotion collected $1.35 million to continue to support the educational goals of service members and veterans. 

We salute Sport Clips for their ongoing commitment to this wonderful cause, and we salute all veterans and active duty service members for all they do.

Full details on the program can be read here.

Booksy’s ‘Doll Head’ tour has just kicked off with the idea being that this social project will unite Booksy artists from all corners of the globe as they participate in a collective education project. 

One Pivot Point doll head will travel from Los Angeles to London, making five stops along the way with Booksy artists.

Each artist will do a one-hour demo that will stream live on Booksy social media channels. The project allows Booksy to provide on-trend education to existing and new merchants. It also helps engage the community and create camaraderie amongst Booksy educators and ambassadors. 

We wish the doll head safe passage on its extensive journey. The head will, of course, start with long hair in LA, then on to Las Vegas, then Orlando, ending with a pixie cut when it reaches the end of its journey in Europe. 

There will be a return journey from London, this time with a men’s mannequin head, starting out in the New Year, look out for further details on our page. 

For more details go to: https://booksy.com/blog/us/the-doll-head-tour/