60 seconds with

SHELDON EDWARDS A.K.A MR HD

Th e global barber and entrepreneur shares his story of success and why he’s passionate about inspiring the next generation.

IMAGE: GETTY 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. Th ey gave me one and I’ve been cutting hair ever since.

HD Cutz… came about after I did a cut for footballer Mousa Dembélé. My colleagues were fascinated by the high-defi nition 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 fi nish and capturing what the client has in mind, bringing it to life.

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 diff erent way. The attention I received during Euro 2020

was crazy… I didn’t know Phil Foden’s haircut and colour was going to go viral. Th e 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. Th ey went viral and everyone started requesting them.

I would love to get my hands on…

Lionel Messi. I’ve worked on many athletes and footballers, but I’d love to give Messi his fi rst 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.