We are STRONGER TOGETHER

Julian Crane
General Manager UK & Ireland, Henkel Beauty Care Professional

From social media streaming to product home delivery, the industry pivoted to the new normal with the same creativity and entrepreneurial spirit which makes hairdressing such a dynamic and exciting industry to be in. 

We had packed the first months of the year with new product launches, shoots and creative teamwork. Our major launch, ChromaID, was brought to colourful life with our shoot with Global Ambassador, Tyler Johnston. And we kept the colour theme going with our Inspire shoot project where we collaborate with a mix of our hairdressing partners. This time it was Donna Garnham, Katie Mulcahy, Teri Lowe, James Nicklin and Brooke Evans with their brilliant reimagining of the trends. 

Our third shoot in as many months was with the outgoing 2019 Young Artistic Team (YAT) and this was to be our last creative blast before lockdown. Shot by Michael Young, the YAT team were upskilled and mentored through the day by the creative genius of both Gary Hooker and Michael Young. As our 2019 group said goodbye, we also ushered in our 2020 Young Artistic Team. Congratulations to Georgia Todd, Lucy Routledge, Alannah Finnegan, Claire McGowan, Alijah Nerheim and Rachel Kirk on becoming our 2020 YATs, and although their year was put on pause, we can’t wait to see what these next big names in hairdressing do next.

As lockdown impacted, we responded quickly and proactively with a full programme of support for salons. We implemented numerous supportive initiatives including ‘Help Your Salon,’ a voucher scheme where clients could pay upfront in lockdown for future services upon reopening and our home delivery service, which allowed clients to order their favourite products via their salon for fast, free, home delivery.

But above all, we stayed closely connected to our community with a consistent, creative schedule of online education. Our UK Ambassadors as well as our Professional Partner Services Team provided a continual flow of invaluable and engaging virtual trainings and insights. Hooker & Young gave us their ‘Low Down’ to entertain, lift spirits and show we really were “all in it together”. Within the Lockdown a real high was participating in an educational Guinness World Record through Hairdressers United. This 24-hour livestream featured a global line up of talent from across Henkel Beauty Care Professional brands, including our very own megastars Tyler Johnston, Lesley Jennison, Jack Howard and Richard Ashforth.

Celebrating together at the British Hairdressing Awards is always the perfect end to the hairdressing year. This year of course it’ll be different, but we shall share and celebrate the year’s creative achievements in style all the same, and the exceptional work submitted by this year’s finalists is positive proof of that. I’d like to extend a special thank you to one of our UK Schwarzkopf Professional Ambassadors, Michael Young, for shooting the extra special cover of this year’s British Hairdressing Awards issue, and to all of our Ambassadors for modelling!

Wishing the very best of luck to every finalist, and here’s to a bigger, better and even more exciting 2021.

This article appears in the December 2020 Issue of Hairdressers Journal

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