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.

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.

The Professional Beauty Association (PBA), the largest and most inclusive national trade organization representing manufacturers, distributors, salon and spa business owners, and licensed beauty professionals, is excited to provide two important reminders regarding NAHA. As the top hair and makeup competition in North America, NAHA is the premiere platform for beauty professionals to push the boundaries and bring their artistic visions to life.

The first is to announce the call for entries for NAHA 2022 opens June 14th. The second is to provide details regarding the live awards show for NAHA 2021, which will take place August 29th at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Tickets are on sale now.

Call for Entries Opens June 14th for NAHA 2022

Categories for the 33rd Annual North American Hairstyling Awards (NAHA) are as follows:

New in 2022, NAHA is replacing the Men’s Hairstyling category with Barbering. Additionally, NAHA is bringing back NAHA Remix, which allows artists to enter previously submitted collections as long as they meet certain criteria.

Entrants for all categories must be licensed cosmetologists or barbers, with the exceptions of Student Hairstylist of the Year, Makeup Artist of the Year and Inspiring Salon of the Year.

Key dates for NAHA 2022 are as follows:

Entries Open: June 14, 2021

 Entries Close: September 10, 2021

 Finalist Announcement: November 10, 2021

NAHA 2022 Award Ceremony: January 30, 2022—Long Beach, CA

For specific category rules and to enter, please visit probeauty.org/NAHA2022.

Tickets Now on Sale for the 2021 North American Hairstyling Awards (NAHA)

NAHA 2021 will take place on August 29th at Cosmoprof North America (CPNA) in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Convention Center. NAHA is the must-attend event for the who’s who of the beauty industry, where attendees experience the magic of the red carpet, mingle with the best and brightest in the business and watch artistic vision come to life.

Usually held in Long Beach in January, NAHA 2021 was pushed back to August to ensure it could remain live and in-person. “This will undoubtedly be an unprecedented event,” shares Nina Daily, PBA’s Chief Marketing Officer and incumbent Executive Director. “The level of artistry that will be on display, set against the backdrop of Las Vegas, is just what the industry has been craving.”

 NAHA 2021 will be hosted by Michael Shaun Corby and will feature a Mainstage Performance by 2020 NAHA Hairstylist of the Year Silas Tsang, an Artistic Presentation by Ulta, and many other surprises.

For pricing and information on VIP packages, as well as special offers exclusively available to Professional Beauty Association members, visit probeauty.org/naha. For media credentials, please contact press@probeauty.org or fill out this form.

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”.

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.

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