Interview with Edward Hemmings

In this episode Nathan Plumridge talks to Edward Hemmings, owner and salon director of the Alan d Education Group. With over 30 years of hair and education experience, Edward and his team provide outstanding hair and barbering education from their two sites in London and Ipswich. The pair talk about education in the hair industry and a number of other key subjects. KEY TAKEAWAYS Young hairdressers need to get clients in their 60s and 70s, they’re brilliant clients. They come in every four weeks needing a colour and a perm done, it’s fantastic! If you’re going to be a multi-salon group these days you need to be a Headmasters, Rush, Toni & Guy where it’s all about systems in place and software and perhaps software allows you to be a bit better. My earliest memories was rushing staff from one shop to another when what you want to do is focus on the salon that’s good and keep the staff there. So, we dropped the number of London salons. Education is different, you’ve got 30 seconds to make an impression with a client. I’ve got a day, week, month, six months or year. If a student has a difficult Monday, we make Tuesday better. If you give them a great Friday, they forget what went on the rest of the week! The age of apprentices is, in some cases going up because people don’t always make the correct career decision at 16. Plus, older apprentices tend to learn quicker without some of the issues a younger person will have.   BEST MOMENTS ‘We’ve now got to manage our student’s expectations differently now we’re back face-to-face. We now have to slow people down.’ ‘Thanks to Covid, everyone’s become an educator and the way in which we deliver education has changed to be much more engaging and empathetic.’ ‘Being a great hairdresser doesn’t make you a good educator.’ ‘During lockdown our stock went up hugely, people were prepared to break the rules to get their hair done and hairdressers were prepared to break the rules and go and do it. That’s how important we are, we are futureproof, you have to come to us physically.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Edward Hemmings started his career in hairdressing (after a brief stint as a banker) in February 1992, training in Dean Street before moving to a salon on Regent Street and worked his way through from stylist to manager. Eventually he moved away from salon life and into education in 2000 while all the time still keeping his hand in doing hairdressing. Currently, Edward is Creative Director and Director of Education at Alan d. He also heads up the Business Education Programme at the Fellowship for British Hairdressing. Alan d Education Group website: https://www.aland.co.uk/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alandhairdressingeducation/ Instagram and Tik Tok: @alandhair Edward’s social handle: @edwardhemmingspresenter ABOUT THE HOST Welcome and thank you for reading this, I’m Nathan Plumridge salon owner and Hair Stylist. I’ve been in the industry for nearly 30 years and have been a salon owner for 23 of them. I have been fortunate enough to work and learn with some of the biggest names in the industry and this has given me the experience and drive to now be here with you sharing my experiences. CONTACT DETAILS  www.hairlifeshow.com Instagram is @nathan.hairlife  Email me at [email protected] show was brought to you by Progressive Media