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/

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.