21st January 2025
It’s time for a reality check about the world of hairdressing. I am currently in the midst of researching and writing information for a project I am working on. The topic, this thing we call hair – and also, the scalp! I have had a light bulb moment about hair and everything related to it.
This is serious stuff! What hairdressers and barbers do, how they create their clients styles, the cutting, colouring, curling and waving, isn’t some simple little thing that just happens, it’s a technically challenging career that deserves the recognition it really should have.
This thing we call hair is actually one of the most complex structures mother nature has created. What might seem just like a simple strand of something that can be manipulated with chemicals and heat is far more than that.
My research has taken me deeper into the molecular structure of hair, what it is made of, and how it can be affected, altered, and damaged; it has been an interesting exercise. My knowledge of hair is in no part thanks to my time with Wella Professionals who shared their vast knowledge in training I received many years ago. Since then though, technology has moved on immensely, as has the understanding of what actually makes hair what it is, with greater abilities to photograph molecular details. Alongside that, products, from shampoo to colour have all advanced beyond recognition to work with the basic structure and all its tiniest elements.
These books are incredibly detailed and explain about the chemical structure of hair in great depth; at times they can read quite challenging, but, the beauty of modern technology is that Google can now answer questions about elements, components and other aspects of the information found in them in an easy to understand way.
I’ve also been researching the scalp as part of the project I am working on, and it too is an incredibly complex structure, one that sometimes hairdressers and barbers don’t understand as much as they do hair. But, the scalp plays a huge role in the health of hair, the old adage ‘healthy scalp means healthy hair’ is true.
And so to the reality check, the lightbulb moment. It’s time for hairdressers and barbers (not all I hasten to add*) to recognise that what they do on a day to day basis is much more than cutting, colouring, waving and styling hair. What they actually do is work with an incredible, molecular structure and transform it! What they also do is protect the key elements that make up healthy hair while they carry out their services, and then, they share hints and tips, advice on how to maintain healthy hair (and scalp) at home.
*There are hairdressers and barbers out there that get just what an incredible and complex job that they do actually is.
For me, this elevates the world of hairdressing to a completely different level, I have always believed that this is a career of huge relevance, one that deserves recognition, not only from within the industry but from outside of it as well.
Hairdressing, barbering, it’s not just ‘doing’ hair, it’s nothing short of molecular creativity.
