HE'S WITH THE CREW

By Julie Bellinger-Gibb UK

You’d be hard-pushed to meet a barber as accomplished as Ian Harrold. Like many, Ian started his hair career at the age of 16 and his devotion to men’s hair has not wavered since.

He’s the founder of two brands of barbershops, an in-house academy and is also an American Crew All Star. Today, you’ll find him right at the forefront of UK barbering as the lead UK educator for American Crew. We went to meet him…

Ian recounts his story with the down to earth openness of someone who isn’t just admired for his work but is also known as a resoundingly nice guy. “I left school in 1991 with no GCSEs,” Ian admits. “My mum told me I needed a job, or it was re-sits. So, I applied for everything you could think of and never got anywhere.

My mum had spotted a job for an apprentice barber at the local barber shop. I thought there was no way I was going to do that, but I didn’t want to go back to school. We made a deal - if I went for the interview and I didn’t get the job I would get the first week of school off to keep looking.

I went for the interview and when asked ‘Why do you want to be a Barber?’ I said I didn’t and told him why. He laughed and said I was the most honest 16-year-old he had spoken to and gave me a trial the following day. And that’s how it started. It took time but I grew to love the barbershop.”

At the age of 21, Ian left his job there and with the help of The Prince’s Trust, opened his own Barber Shop in 1996 called Traditions.

Within the first year he was doing well and needed staff. “I decided the best thing to do was to take on an apprentice who was younger than me so I would have the confidence to teach them how I liked to work,” says Ian. “28 years on, we still only take on apprentices and we encourage, develop and nurture them to become part of our team.”

Developing apprentices has always been at the heart of Ian’s business and seeing a lack of tutors in the male specific side of hairdressing, he decided to go to night school and gained his assessor’s qualifications to teach and deliver NVQ qualifications.

Ian worked for an independent college in Liverpool for the next two years one day a week delivering the Level 2 NVQ in Barbering. He developed his educating skills further in 2012 when he graduated from Bolton University with a Professional Diploma in Education.

With training the next generation always in mind, Ian has been part of the UK Government Route Panel since August 2022 to advise on the new T level qualifications for the Barbering, Hair, and Beauty sector to help them to become fit for purpose.

And while education is clearly a key driver in Ian’s career, his creative side burns no less brightly. “In 1999 I also became a competitive Barber for the NHBF team competing in classic competitions,” says Ian. “I did this for the next four years competing in Strasbourg in 2002 and in 2003 in Paris.”

Spotting a shift in the male grooming market in 2004 due in part to the rise of David Beckham transcending football and becoming a grooming icon and the rise of the ‘metrosexual’, Ian embarked on his next chapter.

He decided that to develop both himself and his business, he would open a men’s salon called Attitude Men’s Hair offering appointments and also including additional services such as colour to his menu - a trailblazing jump at the time.

In 2014, the Arcadia Group approached Ian to bring the Attitude brand into their Topman Liverpool Store. This was a fortuitous and highly successful addition to his company until Arcadia closed its doors in February 2021.

A thread that has run throughout Ian’s more recent career trajectory is a link with American Crew. “I became an All Star for American Crew in 2004 - the term American Crew use for their Global Artistic Education Team,” says Ian. “In 2008, I became the first non-American Educator to be given the All Star of the Year award as voted by my peers.

I have delivered American Crew Education in multiple countries across Europe and America and also worked on the cutting team at the Revlon Style Masters stage shows for American Crew in Prague, Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona and also the 10-year anniversary show in Palma and the 25 Years celebration show in New York in 2019.

More recently in 2023, I headed the cutting team for the anniversary show for the Serbian distributor in Belgrade.”

In June 2016, American Crew were asked to provide a styling team for the opening of the Paul Smith Flagship Store in London, which Ian headed up as the Lead Educator in the UK. Whether it’s education, photoshoots or brand development, Ian approaches each opportunity with relish. “Every year American Crew has a global photographic competition, and the three winners get to do a photo shoot with the founder of American Crew David Raccuglia.

In August 2022, I was asked to support the previous two year’s winners with hair direction on their London photo shoot, creating two collections for magazines and their individual portfolios,” Ian recalls with pride.

In December 2022, Ian was chosen to be on the cutting team for the American Crew 2023 collection Ac-iD, a collection that was seen on runways and taught in American Crew academies around the world.

At the beginning of 2023, Ian took a team of delegates, made up of hairdressers and barbers that have taken part in the ACED Academy courses by American Crew, to Paris to celebrate the launch of the new Revlon Professional and American Crew Academy.

The team took part in a photo shoot to create a style book made from students’ work from across Europe and Ian played a vital role, helping with everything from product selection to teaching budding barbers how to work with a photographer.

More recently American Crew’s Global Education Director, Phoenix Thomson selected Ian to assist the Global Technical Director in delivering the 2024 technical team training for the European American Crew All Star team and Team Crew in Barcelona.

Ian loves creating collections, whether for American Crew or to fulfil his own creative vision. “Collections are important in men’s hair,” Ian muses. “We look to them with the same psychology as clothing retailers do.

When men go shopping, what is on the mannequin is what they buy, as men are visually motivated. If they see a combination that works that is what they trust to make themselves look and feel good.

We believe it is the same with their hair, so with a collection shoot it is about being commercial and creating hair that they would like to try with a strong product story to also encourage product sales.”

The collection Ian shot last year for Attitude was a tribute to the rise of the customer he’s seen emerge more and more throughout his career. He explains; “I didn’t want models with authentic masculinity, more a natural self-assurance and confidence gained from their ability not to fit with a stereotype.

My thinking took me to a young Mick Jagger. Fast forward to present and think Harry Styles - the cheeky confidence that the paparazzi and women love, and most young men deep down admire. When I was sourcing inspiration for the collection, I was reminded of the confidence of the young up-and-coming models that get dressed up every year and stand outside the Pitti Uomo Fair in Florence.

These men are nicknamed ‘The Peacocks’ due to the way they parade up and down.”The result is a versatile and well-received statement on modern men’s hair - technically adept and with mileage to be broken down into a styling program for the team.

“We look to add new techniques to our repertoire with each collection as a way of keeping our team evolving and developing new ideas,” explains Ian. A taster of this collection was featured in the January 2024 issue of Modern Barber magazine.

A million miles from the lad who said he didn’t want a job in barbering all those years ago, Ian has proved himself to be creative, technical and a brilliant educator. In fact, though this humble guy would likely be the last to admit it, he’s one of the world’s most accomplished all-rounders in men’s hair.

As his long-standing link with American Crew proves, if you need a safe pair of hands, Ian Harrold’s your man.

COLOUR COLLECTION CREDITS:

Hair: Ian Harrold @ Attitude Men’s Hairdressing

Products: American Crew

Grooming: Maddie Austin

Styling: Agnese Picchio

Photography: Tom Lee