The demand requirements of the modern fashion-conscious man has seen a barbershop in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, invest £30,000 in a rebrand and a business makeover. 

Entrepreneur Kenny Parker has taken full ownership of the salon in Lisburn Square and has ambitious plans to open a new barber’s called Cut & Grind.

Kenny set the standard for men’s styling by opening the Bedford Barber Lounge in Belfast in March, he was also the founder and creator of the well-known Man Shack men’s grooming brand.

“Despite the challenges of lockdown, I remain defiantly optimistic for the future, which is why I have chosen this moment to do something different,” Kenny said.

“I’m bringing men’s grooming into the 21st century with a new salon that offers a 360-degree experience to my customers.

“I have undertaken extensive research with my clients and the wider market and responding to what men want when it comes to grooming. The new Cut & Grind salon delivers levels of comfort and interaction unseen in Northern Ireland.”

For more details go to: https://cutandgrindsalon.com

In a letter supported by various key institutions from the UK Hair, Barber and Beauty sector, The Hair and Barber Council have written to Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, seeking sector specific financial support.

Noting that over 337,000 people are employed in over 49,000 businesses within the UK sector, Keith Conniford, Registrar/CEO, has specifically asked for support in four key measures:

• To immediately extend the VAT relief afforded to the hospitality sector – to allow salons, barbershops etc benefit from this also,
• To extend Business Rates Relief for the next 2 years,
• To offer a £1,000 contribution to all businesses within the sector to compensate for the enormous amount of PPE products required to safely service their clients,
• To have utility bills of salons/barbershops reimbursed by energy providers or by the Government.

Please visit https://www.haircouncil.org.uk for more details on The Hair and Barber Council.

You can view the letter sent to the Chancellor in full below.

Our amazing friends over at Stag Barber Co. in Edinburgh, Scotland have really stepped up to support those in the hospitality sector.

The barber shop, which is famed for charging on how long clients hair is and how long it takes to cut, regardless of gender, is known for it’s outstanding work in the community, recently supporting key workers with free hair cuts.

But now they have gone one step further, with a generous offer to cut any hospitality sector employees hair for free for the next two weeks, as local bars and restaurants are closed due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.

Citing the importance of the local hospitality sector to the employees of the barber shop, the team at Stag Barber Co. take inspiration from the hard work, creativity and passion of those impacted by the latest restrictions, and hope that this kind gesture can help during these times.

We salute this wonderful gesture and hope that the hospitality sector in central Scotland can re-open asap. Congratulations to Stag Barber Co. for continuing to be champions of their local community in Edinburgh!

We wanted to share some exciting news amidst all of the ongoing struggles facing us all globally at this time…!

Our friends over at the Newburgh Free Academy, based 60 miles north of New York City, have like many other institutions, found that they had to move their teaching courses online – to continue to educate tomorrows barbers and stylists, but from a safe environment.

NFA Cosmetology teacher Ms. Leanne Paganelli, Barbering teacher Ms. Danielle Crinieri, and Assistant Principal Mr. Matt Spellman took it upon themselves to hand deliver necessary supplies to their scholars, so they could successfully complete requirements for their courses as they learn virtually.

We were truly honoured to be able to support this by sending complimentary copies of BarberEVO Magazine to the teachers so that they could share these with this years scholars.

We wish everyone from the NFA and other educational institutes the very best of luck as they continue to deliver world-class education and curriculum to tomorrows leading barbers and stylists!

2020 has been a year like no other… but one thing that we can rely on is the excitement and anticipation that is brought about from the annual Wahl Barber Battle!

Now in its fourth year, the barber battle provides entrants with a unique, career-changing opportunity to win a place of the esteemed Wahl Education and Artistic Team for a full year.

Entrants this year must submit a video of three specific cuts, an afro cut, a taper cut, and a cut of their choosing – providing they have used Wahl clippers to perform the cut!

We exclusively sat down with 2018 winner Kevin Nguyen on EVOLive – you can view this here.

Visit the new Wahl Barber Battle website HERE for full details!

Check out this cool video from Wahl on how to enter…

It’s a new series of free online training classes to provide Shortcuts software users with an in-depth review of Shortcut’s features.

Key topic areas include: Essential reporting, advanced appointments, client management, and employee management.

Attendance is unlimited, and viewers can engage with Shortcut’s representatives to ask questions and interact.

Details on registration can be found here.

As we wave goodbye to one of the strangest and bleakest summers we’ve ever seen, at BarberEVO we’re hoping to brighten up your fall with some colorful content.

Issue No. 15 is bold, make no mistake about that!

Our October cover star is none-other than the incredible and inspiring Pati Plymire, aka Queen of the South – she drops details on her famous braiding techniques, working with brands like Schedulicity and Style Factor, and her Barbercon 2020 win.

We also look at how some incredible barbershops from across North America, like thom. and Garrett Michael Barbershop, are offering close – contact services in these strange, PPE-laden times.

Plus, Toronto barber Tyler Lumb tells us about his inclusive virtual barbering service with Gillette. Kenny Duncan is back with a thought provoking piece on beard care and the effects of COVID-19 on African American barbershops, and we hear from John Carmona on why tattoo culture is intwined with barbershops.

Megastars Arod and Byrd join us to chat all things education, Wahl and social media, and Booksy ambassador Tom Baxter tells us about his new educational video series, Raw and Uncut. Plus, we chat to Candage Curran of Blackdoor Tattoo & Barber Co. to find out how things have been post-lockdown.

As always, it’s a fascinating issue – we hope it brings a bit of light and inspiration to you in these strange times!

Following months of campaigning and warnings to government regarding the need for additional education, training and skills funding for the hair and beauty sector, the NHBF has welcomed today’s announcement by the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, for the major expansion of education and training for those aged 18 and above. 

The key points are:

• Lifetime Skills Guarantee to give adults the chance to take free college courses valued by employers
• New entitlement to flexible loans to allow courses to be taken in segments, boosting opportunities to retrain and enhancing the nation’s technical skills
• The opportunity to study at a time and location that suits them. 
• Apprenticeship opportunities will also be increased, with more funding for small and medium sized businesses, such as salons, taking on apprentices. This includes greater flexibility in how their training is structured – especially in sectors such as construction and creative industries (which includes hair and beauty) where there are more varied employment patterns.

This offer will be available from April 2021 in England and will be paid for through the National Skills Fund. A full list of available courses will be available shortly. 

Hilary Hall, chief executive for the NHBF says, ‘We welcome the increased investment in apprenticeships for small and medium companies, although we will need to see more details.  We feel the funding should be focussed on older learners looking to switch careers by moving into hairdressing or beauty therapy.  

Many salons currently have no plans to take on apprentices but may change their minds if the increased investment in apprentices is focussed on older learners.  Employers are put off taking on such students as apprentices because they are only paid at the apprenticeship rate for one year of their apprenticeship course, which typically lasts two years.  As employers in our sector have a strong preference for apprenticeships and salons who are recruiting apprentices are reporting a shortage of suitable applicants, this is a great opportunity.’

The NHBF is still calling for a dedicated training and reskilling fund for those businesses such as those in the hair and beauty sector who have been the most severely hit by the current restrictions and guidelines required in order to be compliant and operate safely.

In addition to the main points the Prime Minister also announced that higher education loans will be made more flexible, allowing adults and young people to space out their study across their lifetimes, take more high quality vocational courses in further education colleges and universities, and to support people to retrain for jobs of the future.  

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

We were joined on Monday 28th September on EVOLive by Hannah McKnight.

Hannah is a West Midlands based barber, multiple barbershop owner and platform artist – who kindly agreed to discuss her recent decision to close one of her barbershops.

It was a full and frank discussion around the challenges of stretching yourself too thinly, and the importance of finding the right work/life balance.

We hope you enjoy this EVOLive – feel free to watch in full above.

Iconic UK barbering figures Captain Fawcett, has re-opened his ‘simply marvellous’ barbershop museum in King’s Lynn, Norfolk.

Originally opened back in March 2019, the museum was forced to close earlier this year due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.

However that only served to close the museum temporarily, as the ever-extravagant Captain has now endeavoured to re-open the museum VIRTUALLY, thanks to some very clever 3-D mapping technology.

In the Captain’s own words… “it is a veritable tonsorial treasure trove celebrating literally centuries of craftsmanship. Along with sharing the origination of now invariably, mass produced everyday items, this extensive archive includes truly exceptional antique pieces dating as far back as the seventeenth century. It is a magnificent tribute to the ancient, most noble profession of the Barber Surgeon and is believed to be the world’s largest collection of its kind.”

So what are you waiting for… go visit the museum virtually here!