With uncertainty hanging over all events this year, the organisers of the CT Barber Expo X have decided to move the event date back to August 2021. The following announcement was released:
To Our Current & Previous Valued Guests,
With recent discussions with the State of Connecticut officials, Mohegan Sun Casino management and current state of the pandemic, we are rescheduling the date of the Connecticut Barber Expo X. The dates of the event will now be Saturday, August 14, 2021, through Monday, August 16, 2021. The date change will allow for the current surge to subside and allow more time for individuals to be vaccinated.
The event will continue to take place at Mohegan Sun Resort & Casino. This will allow for hotel, plenty of dining options and social distance protocols. For hotel room booking, you may call 1.888.777.7922 or use the following link Mohegan Sun Hotel for special room pricing. To purchase tickets on Eventbrite, please click on the following link. All competition registration entries have been transferred to the new dates as well.
Again, we apologize for the inconvenience. We hope that you and your loved ones stay safe during this time.
Sincerly, CTBE Staff
Any further updates will be fully covered within the pages of BarberEVO magazine and on our social media platforms.
As of the 25th of January, Health Officials have lifted the Regional Stay at Home Order in California and put the state into the ‘Purple Tier.’
This allows ‘personal care services’ such as barbershops, hair salons, and nail bars to operate indoors. However, Health Officials ask that businesses operate at 25% capacity, and continue to social distance and wear face masks where applicable.
Until the 25,th California had been the only state in which barbershops and hair and beauty salons were under strict regulations to stay closed.
Thankfully, the ICU percentages and case rates have remained low enough over the last month for restrictions to be lifted enough for beauty industry professionals to get back at it.
For many men, a trip to the barbershop is much more than just a luxurious effort to alter their aesthetic appearance. For many, their barbershop has become a safe place to chat about their lives, and their barber, a friend and confidant. Many barbers may joke that they find them feeling more like a therapist than a barber – but what if you could provide barbers with the tools to do both?
Lorenzo Lewis did just that. After spotting a deficiency in mental health care for Black men and boys in the United States, Lorenzo Lewis founded Confess Project Barber Coalition in 2016. Their goal is to bridge the gaps in mental health care for Black men and boys, by providing barbers with the resources and skills to listen and talk to their clients about their mental health wellbeing in a judgement-free safe space.
Lewis noticed that African American communities in the United States were terribly under-resourced and underrepresented in terms of mental health care and support. However, he found that the importance of the barbershop’s role in improving and promoting mental health in men, specifically in African American communities, had been previously overlooked.
Through workshops hosted by the Confess Project Barber Coalition, barbers are given education, resources and training to talk to their clients about mental health, and to point them toward further help and solutions. Since 2016, the Barber Coalition has trained more than 200 barbers across the United States to be mental health advocates.
During the last year, throughout the pandemic, African Americans have been disproportionally affected and racial injustices and police brutality have only increased the Black community’s need for mental health resources. Meanwhile, many barbershops have been forced to close and the in-person workshops have had to be put on the back burner. However, that won’t stop the Coalition’s efforts to continue to support their communities. The group has started hosting online training courses, group support calls, and individual check-ins for member barbers.
Lewis’ goal for the Confess Project Barber Coalition to that the messages and lessons taught go ‘beyond the barbershop,’ showing men and boys that it is okay to talk about their emotions and to ensure that they know they are valued in society, and that there is a community behind them.
The National Hair & Beauty Federation is warning that the government may have just placed the final nail in the coffin for already struggling salons and barbershops without urgent and targeted financial support. This stark warning comes as the new Tier and Level 4 restrictions are set to cost hair and beauty businesses across the UK more than £124million per week in lost income, killing off many previously profitable businesses, and making thousands of people unemployed. (see table below)
The NHBF Key Industry Statistics 2020 report demonstrates the continued growth of the hair and beauty industry prior to COVID-19. This is in contrast with November NHBF data which indicated 62% of salon owners could not be sure their business would survive until the end of the financial year in April 2021, and almost a third of that number (18%) explicitly sure they would have to close.
The report, compiled in exclusive association with the Local Data Company (LDC), shows that at the beginning of the year barbershops, beauty salons and nail salons were the top three retail categories that saw the highest growth in the UK – above supermarkets, coffee shops, takeaways and pizza shops.
According to the Office for National Statistics there are nearly 45,000 hair and beauty salon businesses in the UK (a rise of over 1,000 since last year), which generated over £8bn in turnover in 2018, up from £7.5bn in 2017.
And the industry had continued to prop up ailing high streets, with hair and beauty businesses pre COVID-19 having higher survival rates after five years than many other sectors, in particular nail salons whose survival rate after five years was 69%.
Richard Lambert, NHBF chief executive said, “The Key Industry Statistics report paints a picture of a strong and growing industry with business survival rates bucking the decline of the high street. It is characterised by a high percentage of female entrepreneurs, supporting young people into careers and its posiive approach to flexible working.
However, this was before the coronavirus pandemic and we know from our recent targeted surveys that the majority of hair and beauty professionals are struggling to recoup their losses from lockdowns, implementing social distancing measures and the costs of increased PPE. Whilst we appreciate these are all necessary, the sector has not received any additional financial support such as those gifted to the arts, the sports sector, leisure or hospitality. Businesses simply cannot continue on this basis and we are continuing our pressure on the government to recognise this. Financial help to salons and professionals during this difficult time will be the only way to ensure the hair and beauty sector can return to where it was at the beginning of 2020.”
Cost per region:
Region
Number of Salons
Lost Revenue Per Week
London
7,015
£16million
South East
5,425
£35million
North East
2,020
£5million
North West
5,425
£17million
East Midlands
2,980
£11million
West Midlands
3,815
£14million
Total England
£98million
Scotland
3,810
£17million
Wales
2,155
£6million
Northern Ireland
1,560
£3million
Total UK
£124million
The full statistical tables are available free to NHBF Members, or for £250 to non-members.
Fancy a haircut at 3am? Well, thanks to Edinburgh based salon Stag Barber Co , you can do just that – and all for an amazing cause.
Earlier this month gender-free salon Stag shared the heart-breaking story of their team member Nicole, who suffered the loss of her child at 29 weeks.
On the 23rd of December, owner of Stag, Murray McRae, will be cutting hair for 24-hours straight, with all profits going towards SIMba, a baby loss charity whose memory box helped Nicole and her partner Jordan during their difficult time.
Murray will be standing on the spot, scissors flying from 08.30am on Wednesday all the way through to 08.30am on Christmas Eve.
The salon team came up with the idea after their plan to give £1 from every December appointment to SIMba has been cut short by the impending lockdown.
“2020 has felt like a marathon as it is,” said owner Murray McRae,
“We heard about salons and barbershops in London working round the clock to get clients in before lockdown. So we thought why not do something similar – but for a good cause.
“SIMba was an unbelievable help to our Nicole when she lost her first child Isaac. To commemorate his birth, and to celebrate the birth of her daughter Iva, born almost a year to the date after the loss, we wanted to give her this Christmas gift.”
Haircuts will be the usual price with all ‘after-hours’ profits going to SiMBA. In-house coffee shop Stag Espresso will be on hand with free coffee to fuel Murray and his early hours customers through the trims. Murray will be in full marathon running wear complete with sweat bands etc on the day and throughout the night.
Barbers and hairdressers in Scotland are required to close their doors for three weeks from Boxing Day following the announcement of the country’s post-Christmas Day full lockdown.
