50p from each tub sold is donated straight back to The Lions Barber Collective; helping the charity to raise awareness and prevent male suicides all over the world.

Premium men’s grooming brand The Bluebeards Revenge is pleased to announce the launch of a brand new hair gel in collaboration with men’s mental health charity The Lions Barber Collective.

The Bluebeards Revenge Hair Gel has been developed especially with barbers in mind to provide them with a professional, multipurpose product that can handle both retro spikes and modern textured masterpieces.

Most importantly, 50p from each tub sold is donated straight back to The Lions Barber Collective; helping the charity to raise awareness and prevent male suicides all over the world.

Founder of The Lions Barber Collective and award-winning hairstylist Tom Chapman was heavily involved in the development of this new product. He said: “Collaborating with our friends at The Bluebeards Revenge in any way is a privilege. But to have the chance to develop a product alongside them that actively helps to support our work while giving back to the barbering community is phenomenal.”

“I have always dreamt of developing hair products, so to collaborate on a product that I use every day was very exciting. Hair gels have come such a long way in recent years and now offer so much more than the brightly coloured concoctions of the past.

“The hair gel we have created with The Bluebeards Revenge reflects the evolving landscape of men’s hairstyling and is an essential product for barbers. Its versatility means it acts as a fantastic cutting agent, enabling hairstylists to create neat sections and partings in both long and short wet hair. It also works perfectly as a pre-styling product, meaning stylists can create hold and shape in the hair with very little product residue. Add to that its classic barbershop fragrance and strong hold and it’s a really rounded product that is head and shoulders above the supermarket slimes!”

The Bluebeards Revenge’s commitment to raising awareness and preventing male suicide can be seen on the inside of every hair gel’s carton.

Bradley Wicks, a spokesman for the brand, said: “The inside of our cartons have been branded with life-saving information from The Lions Barber Collective. Upon opening the carton, barbers and their clients can read all about the support available to them: whether that’s how to become an official Lions’ Barber, or where to find the right support to fight back against the stigma that surround mental ill health in men.

“The latter has even attracted the attention of world-renowned suicide prevention charity Samaritans, who have kindly allowed us to include their contact information to signpost men to appropriate help at any time.”

San Francisco, CA Booksy Inc., the top-rated appointment booking application worldwide*, is excited to announce an integration with Instagram business profiles. People come to Instagram to visually discover products and services, with more than 200 million Instagrammers visiting a business profile each day. With the Booksy integration, inspired viewers can now book appointments directly through Instagram any time of the day with hair, skin and nail professionals who use the Booksy app.

“We’re responding to a real consumer-based demand,” says Stefan Batory, CEO and founder of Booksy. “With our new partnership, Booksy is the first appointment scheduling platform that is socially integrated for users and clients to connect. Instagram is no longer just a marketing channel for independent professionals, it is now a client acquisition channel by turning followers into clients. The scheduling process is automated and confirmed with a few clicks. Our data patterns show that clients who self book make 20-30% more appointments. Of these client-booked appointments, 60% are made outside of working hours. With Booksy, scheduling is automated and streamlined, saving time and eliminating the need for texts and phone calls.”

For hair, nail and skin service professionals to benefit, they must sign up with Booksy and convert to a business profile on Instagram. Then, they can activate Booksy from the “Edit Profile” option on profile, under the “Contact Options” section. Businesses that wish to learn more should check out the Instagram Business Toolkit.

Instagram is making it easier to turn inspiration into action, including integrations with a wide range of partners and a better way for businesses to manage their direct messages.

Booksy is available in the App Store and Google Play.

*Apptopia rankings

Inside issue nine of EVO UK and Ireland, we bring you the usual dose of all things barbering from exclusive interviews to product reviews and lifestyle features.

We loved every minute at the CT Barber Expo and also at the Great British Barber Bash London and the Scottish Hair and Beauty Show, but there’s no time to rest on our laurels. There are plenty more incredible events to look forward to in the coming months on both sides of the Atlantic. We’ll be at Barbercon, Mark Gaye’s Irish Barber Expo, Barber Connect (J8), Barber UK (X60), GBBB Glasgow and the NI Barber Convention. You know the drill by now. Swing by and say hello to the EVO gang!

Many would argue that barbering was previously viewed as being cheap and cheerful. We would argue that by in large this is no longer the case. The question does remain, however, how can a haircut be worth £250?

Yep, that’s right. Inside, we talk to Instagram’s most followed barber, Arod. The Holywood-based barber has amassed an impressive 1.2 million Instagram following and charges top dollar for the VIP experience at Elegance Studio. He discusses how you can create a higher value service for your clients. Adee Phelan certainly knows about providing high value services too; he was the man behind David Beckham’s mohawk and he discusses his impressive career with Larry The Barberman.

We also sit down with SB Academy owner Vicki Smith to discuss women in the barbershop. I know, I know, it’s been done to death and the consensus is that women are no longer a novelty in our industry. We are certainly seeing more women at the top of the game, but is this indicative of what is happening in barbershops throughout the land? Vicki isn’t so sure.

We recently launched BarberEVO North America at the CT Barber Expo and you can read our reviews of that show and of Barber Bash London inside. As always, there is far too much to list so I’ll just let you get on with it!

Buy or subscribe now!

Now available as an app on both iOS and Android.

Celebrity and multi award-winning barber, Tom Baxter held a haircutting marathon to support the charity Tiny Lives Trust. The ‘Baxter Barberthon’ started at 8am on Sunday, 29 April until 8am on Monday, 30 April 2018 at Tom Baxter Hair salon (Newcastle upon Tyne).
The event ran for 24hrs with no breaks; the salon was constantly crowded with clients keeping Tom busy for the whole day and night. Friends and colleagues joined Tom to support him and help with his mixed clientele of men, women and kids. The team’s efforts were rewarded; the haircutting marathon raised £3000 that will contribute to buy special incubators/cots that will improve the living conditions of many young children.

Partner of the event was the leading professional hair range OSMO, who provided the attendees with their hero products. Sinéad McLaughlin, OSMO marketing executive says, “It was an honour for OSMO to support the event; we work closely with Tom and we didn’t hesitate to help and knowing that with a small gesture, you can help improve many lives.”.

Tom Baxter continues “The haircutting marathon was a success! Time is the most precious thing we have and dedicating 24hrs exclusively to raise money for a good cause, it’s fantastic. I got a lot of support from my team and friends so it was also a good test for everyone.”

To keep supporting Tiny Lives Trust, the donations are open via the dedicated giving page.

Schorem training hits the UK! Schorem’s training courses in Old School Rotterdam are famous worldwide and are regularly sold out up to a year in advance.

If you have ever fancied experiencing the training but don’t have the time (or want to wait!), we have some very good news for you. We will be running a selection of courses throughout the UK and Ireland presented by our UK Scumbassador team Christian Wiles and Wez Jones. Master barbers in their own right, Christian and Wez have come through an intensive training program in the Old School to learn the unique skills that Schorem training courses are renowned for.

THE COURSES CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TO BOOK ARE:

• Scumclass: This is a half day look & learn course demonstrating classic Schorem cuts and the old school craft of barbering. From Pompadours to Flattops, learn how to integrate the Schorem classic shapes into your everyday work.
• Classic Barbering – Level One: This is a great course to understand the techniques used as the foundation of all Schorem’s classic cuts. The morning will be a look & learn, teaching the Vanguard and Long Trim Pompadour, followed by an afternoon of hands on training using mannequin heads.

For more information of the courses, availability and prices, please contact Rianne at Reuzel UK head office on 01392 365177.

Leading professional hair range, OSMO, has been confirmed as 2018 brand sponsors for the Great British Barber Bash.

Founded by Garry Spencer, the Great British Barber Bash provides educational courses, workshops and live shows throughout the country in colleges, salons and cool locations. OSMO will be providing the organisers, presenters, and barbers with products from the OSMO grooming range, attending live shows to host educational workshops, and supporting the college events.

“The Great British Barber Bash events are about the people involved – both hosting and attending the various events. Our live events are affordable, social and held in cool locations. It’s a platform for barbers to share their craft and for brands like OSMO to share their portfolio too. We host around 4 main live shows a year plus workshops, seminars and college courses throughout the year across the country and it’s great to know we have the support of OSMO. It’s a range that barbers really respect and enjoy using to create their looks,” explains Garry.

Sinéad McLaughlin, OSMO marketing executive continues, “Our OSMO grooming products are fast become a cult essential within the barbering community. Continuing to support nationwide events like Great British Barber Bash is a great opportunity to share our philosophy and products with even more barbers. We meet so many inspiring barbers at the events and get amazing feedback too. It’s a win:win for us.”

You can still secure a ticket for the GBBB here.