Freelance Hairdresser's Association Hosts Groundbreaking Inspire Event Inspire Event Celebrates Innovation, Creativity, and Excellence in Freelance Hairdressing The Freelance Hairdresser's Association (FHA) held its highly anticipated Inspire event on Sunday, 9th June, a vibrant celebration of talent, creativity, and the latest trends in the hairdressing industry. Attendees from across the UK gathered for a day filled with dynamic presentations, insightful demonstrations, and valuable networking opportunities.The day began in the bustling shopping village, where freelance hairdressers enjoyed exclusive discounts, complimentary products, and in-depth discussions with leading professionals, enriching their knowledge and expanding their professional toolkits. The main stage show commenced with an inspiring video of Sheila's recent MBE investiture. Sheila, addressing the audience, attributed her achievement to the unwavering support of the freelance community, declaring, “Receiving an MBE wouldn’t have been possible without you.” The first brand presentation was led by Claire Turner, @thehaircolourlibrary from Wella, showcasing their latest collection, "Colour Crush," which emphasises the summer take on the colour-blocking trend. The Wella team demonstrated how freelancers can incorporate these vibrant looks into their services, highlighting buttery blondes and warm rosy tones. Next, Olaplex delved into their brand's history and cutting-edge technology. They provided valuable insights on integrating Olaplex into freelance services, emphasising the financial benefits and how it can enhance your services and bring in more income without compromising client relationships. The spotlight then turned to L’Oréal, with Marlon Hawkins, Liberty May, and Kara Sanderson from Brooks and Brooks. Their presentation featured the evolution of the bob, the Pantone colour of the year, and innovative cutting and colouring techniques. Marlon then talked about his journey into the creative side of hairdressing, what it took for him to get there and his creative process. GoSalon followed, demonstrating how selling retail products has never been easier for freelancers, with Indola’s ambassadors, Andy and Abbey Smith, closing the show with their global street style-inspired blonde story. Highlighting diverse textures, shapes, and styles inspired by blondes from across the globe. We saw mob-wife volume with a bespoke balayage, advanced bleaching and toning techniques, two-tone blending, root smudges into a global colour and graphic vibes and textured shapes using precise colouring and cutting methods. The event culminated in the prestigious Elite Hair Awards, celebrating the crème de la crème of the freelance hairdressing community. Congratulations to the winners: Colour Specialist: Porsha Lewis Vivid Colourista: Kirsty Innes Prestige Hair Up: Kirsty Innes Avant Garde: Nikki Smith Barber’s Chair: Sarah Smith Diva of Texture: Phie Kirk Style Creator: Kirsty Innes Commenting on the day the FHA [...]

After 2 years of ‘zooming’ Inspire online, Sunday 12th June 2022 saw the Freelance Hairdressers’ Association back, in person, with their exciting event Inspire! The annual inspiration and education event brought members back together again, in real life, uniting the freelance and mobile hairdressing community through live presentations and networking opportunities. This year, the day-long event was held at the Mercure Daventry Court Hotel and Spa. Hosted by founder Sheila Abrahams, over 150 members turned out to experience this year’s inspiring event – and it boasted a star-studded line up, too. Representing friends of the FHA and supporters, the talented guest educators delivered a diverse and inspirational day of education. The morning kicked off with L’Oréal Professional guest artist Alan Edwards showcasing his sought-after cutting and colouring techniques. Working with live models Alan demonstrated attention to detail and his skills inspired everyone, with members desperate to put his methods to good use! Next it was over to Jez Barnett from Innoluxe, Jez was joined by Georgia Bell and Kerrie Northcut. Georgia shared the ins and outs on how to work with creative colour, and great reasons as to why everyone should give them a try. 10 lucky winners were then given the chance to win some exciting Innoluxe and KeraStraight prizes. Following a quick coffee break it was time for Wella Professional Top Artist Jordanna Cobella to take to the stage. Jordanna showcased the brand-new colour innovation from Wella Professional, SHINEFINITY. Presenting a beautiful live colour application, Jordanna created a beautiful root drag using SHINEFINITY. The techniques were adaptable and inspirational, not to mention valuable. After refuelling over lunch, the fourth guest of the day was J C Auchamp from Salon Sustainability. J C talked about the waste within the industry and the changes that hairdressers can make to become more sustainable. J C’s presentation was extremely eye opening and sparked many open conversations on how to run a more sustainable business. Following JC it was over to Redken guest artist Emily Douglas. Emily presented an inspiring live colour application and showcased high impact foilayage and dimensional toning techniques. Emily’s colour techniques certainly left the members inspired and full of ideas to take home to their own clients. Rounding off an inspiring day was Indola’s global ambassadors Paddy McDougall and Andy Smith. Showcasing the latest Street Style Collections, Andy and Paddy worked together to talk through the looks, showcasing live models coloured by Paddy using the new Blonde Expert range and cuts by Andy. The finished looks included a long bob, a retro inspired classic brunette with a blonde streak and a cool retro men’s broken edges look. Not only were the members joined by these inspiring artists and brands but in the exhibition hall they were joined by Spencer Dudman Scissors, Kent Salon Brushes, Aston & Fincher, GoSalon, [...]

Inspire! 2021 was a fabulous event. Our guest list was a cast of freelancers entertaining freelancers. The presentations covered every aspect of hairdressing. Colouring, cutting, styling, hair up and a great finale covering all genres. On our stage we welcomed Frazer Wallace, Harriet Stokes, Patrick Cameron, Jamie Stevens and Andy Smith with Paddy McDougal presented the Indola Street Style collection for our Grande Finale. If you want to see the complete event you can purchase your recording online in our Store. This short showreel will give you a taste of what went on. Thanks to our main sponsors 

GOING BACK TO WORK This is what we have been waiting for – and our clients as well. However, please don’t fret if it isn’t all plain sailing. Remember, you can’t please all of the people all of the time, and you must consider yourself. You cannot fit your whole clientele into one week; nor can you work 24/7. It will take several weeks to get round to everyone on your books, and hopefully clients will understand. Those who don’t may look elsewhere – which is fine. You are in total control of your business, so be firm and don’t overbook, rush or be persuaded to do more than is possible. Working with a visor and PPE will no doubt feel strange to start with and we may feel a bit self-conscious, however it will soon become the 'new normal' and we will settle into it. Use your own common sense, take control of situations and if you are uncomfortable in a client’s home, that they are not clean enough, don’t go. Your safety and the safety of your clients is your priority and you will gain respect for your professionalism and standards.

INSPIRE! IN LOCKDOWN All of this... and we haven’t even mentioned Inspire! 2020. Were we going to miss our super special day just because of lockdown? Never! We had the most amazing day with Inspire! in Lockdown. We had our great friend Patrick Cameron set the scene for a full-on hairdressing day. Presentations followed from Alan Edwards courtesy of L’Oréal Professionnel, Claire John for Matrix, Peter Mellon courtesy of Wella and Paddy McDougall and Andy Smith courtesy of Indola. That all-star cast was backed up with special guests Edward Hemmings, Jez Barnett from KeraStraight, John Huscroft and Cathy McGuiness from Wella all stopping by through the lunch break for a chat! This has been the most unexpected but amazing time and we have recordings of these special times available in our Staff Room Chat, which means there is still time to enjoy them all.