TH E E N D 6 0 S E C O N DS W IT H . . .
SHELDON EDWARDS A.K.A MR HD The global barber and entrepreneur shares his story of success and why he’s passionate about inspiring the next generation. 50 I’m a third-generation barber… From 10 years old I was in my dad’s shop in Jamaica to watch over the barbers and make sure everything ran smoothly. I migrated to the UK in 1998 and went to the local barber to ask for a job. They gave me one and I’ve been cutting hair ever since.
IMAGE: GETTY
HD Cutz… came about after I did a cut for footballer Mousa Dembélé. My colleagues were fascinated by the high-definition cut and the name stuck. Mousa took me to Euro 2016 and introduced me to more players.
When you love what you do… you never work a day in your life. My love for barbering has got me wanting to use all my minutes doing it. I’m happy to travel across the world to cut hair. I spend a lot of time… training staff and making sure all of us are putting in the same work – I want to be precise about how it looks. It’s about the HD finish and capturing what the client has in mind, bringing it to life.
The attention I received during Euro 2020 was crazy… I didn’t know Phil Foden’s haircut and colour was going to go viral. The whole England team said that if they won then everyone would go blond – it’s a great feeling to see we started a trend.
My favourite look… aside from the colour I did for Phil, last year I created twists for Raheem Sterling that looked great and changed his image. They went viral and everyone started requesting them. I would love to get my hands on…
Education is key… Seek to learn every single day – you can never have too much education. I’m passionate about my role on the City & Guilds Industry Advisory Board. I believe barbers have to be on the same page.
I dreamed of being a doctor… but I’m happy that I found my purpose in barbering and get to help people in a different way.
Lionel Messi. I’ve worked on many athletes and footballers, but I’d love to give Messi his first HD cut.
The future is about growing… I want to open more shops and launch more products, and there’s also the education side of things with my online academy coming soon – I want to keep on creating employment for aspiring barbers.
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10/09/2021 12:50