At the entrance of the Hair festival in Sydney\u2019s ICC exhibition centre in late June, mannequin heads with luscious locks silently cast me as a fraud. I\u2019m no hairdresser and this is an industry-only event for hairdressers, barbers and stylists. Rainbow cheetah-print buzz cuts, sea-green rat-tails and blunt mullets \u2013 on human heads \u2013 pass me by as I make my way into the centre of it all.<\/p>\n
Bass-heavy music echoes around the hall and the crowd heaves with excitement as a large timer counts down to the final 10 seconds. Pushing through the crowd, I\u2019m trying to get a view of the most popular event of the day, the live hair cutting competition.<\/p>\n
Contestants only have one rule: they must cut at least 1.5cm of hair. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The GuardianContestants are judged on metrics such as creativity, trendiness and suitability to the model. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Three events \u2013 the barber competition, the emerging talent barber and the women\u2019s cutting competition \u2013 are all taking place on the floor at the same time. Approximately 30 competitors and their models are wedged almost shoulder to shoulder, across five benches. The models\u2019 hair falls to the floor softly, while the competitors standing behind them are a flurry of hands and scissors.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve had half an hour to deliver a technically proficient haircut and time is closing in on them. The only criteria they need to meet is to cut a minimum 1.5cm of hair. Aside from that, judges are assessing less tangible metrics: creativity, trendiness and suitability to the model. The overall winner is the person who accumulates the greatest number of points, and competitors can enter in multiple events.<\/p>\n
The timer rings out and the MC grows increasingly disgruntled as he repeatedly tells the competitors to down tools and to stop touching their models\u2019 hair. One model looks as if he needed more time in the chair \u2013 a noticeable chunk of hair is missing on one side of his head. Other hairstyles are quite simple, with tapered fades or clean lines. Another model sports a mullet with silver sparkles; a star stamped on one side dazzles in the fluorescent light.<\/p>\n
Lilla Lehtsaar with hair by Pearlin McCarthy. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The GuardianCameron Pont from Asri Hairs studio. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Newcomer Jeremy Stott only became a barber eight months ago. This is his first competition, and he admits the style he chose would be hard to pull off in the time limit: an anime-inspired look that\u2019s long at the front and spiked at the back.<\/p>\n
Some competitors have roped their friends into getting a free haircut, but Stott\u2019s model is one of his regular clients. \u201cHe\u2019s got really, really nice hair that\u2019s super thick, so I was a bit panicked about the time,\u201d says Stott. \u201cMy hands got crazy shaky towards the end \u2026 But I think we did all right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stott \u201cnever in a million years\u201d expected to be a barber, let alone a competitive one. But two years ago, he was in a serious motorcycle accident: \u201cI broke my neck and my back and my leg and both my wrists.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lying in bed during his recovery, the former engineer decided to commit to being a barber \u2013 a job aspiration he had entertained, but never seriously considered.<\/p>\n
Stott made the pilgrimage from Melbourne for the event; others came from regional Victoria and the NSW Central Coast. Some competitors have travelled in groups with their salon colleagues; there\u2019s a warm collegiate buzz to the air.<\/p>\n
David Santiago with hair by Brbeer Magic. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The GuardianTeniko Howe from Asri Hairs studio. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
The competitions are a particular highlight, says Joanne Cowan, national sales director at the Intermedia group, the organisation that runs the event, now in its fifth year. \u201cPeople love the opportunity to do something live,\u201d says Cowan. \u201cThere\u2019s no photoshopping, there\u2019s no AI \u2026 it\u2019s pure hair creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the other side of the convention centre, the festival\u2019s braiding competition is taking place. With 13 braiders, it\u2019s not as busy as the main stage but there is a rapt audience mainly consisting of friends and family of the competitors.<\/p>\n
Three women compete in the Bridal division of the hair competitions. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The GuardianJeremy Stott was named Street Style champion as well as taking out the overall best hairdresser award. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Competitors have to complete four box braids on one model in an hour, no mean feat given that braiding one person\u2019s hair, depending on the complexity, can take a whole day.<\/p>\n
Lea Avery is a 12-year braiding veteran, and although many of the competitors are her friends, she was nervous onstage. Still, she says: \u201cI don\u2019t care about winning, I\u2019m just happy I showed up and gave it a go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like Stott, this is Avery\u2019s first time attending and competing at an industry event. She is quick to point out the lack of diversity in its offerings. There\u2019s a braid competition \u2013 a first for the event \u2013 but only two afro hair stalls out of 150. Avery hopes to one day have her own stall at the event to shed light on the afro and Polynesian hair community.<\/p>\n
Elijah, Jackson and Simon all lent their locks for the braiding competition. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The GuardianA model completes her look with a shell and hair bag. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
By lunchtime, back on the main stage, the mood is flagging. It\u2019s been two hours since the live cutting competition finished and there\u2019s a delay in announcing the winners. The adrenaline of performing onstage has worn off and most competitors are slouched around the hall.<\/p>\n
Inna Safaniev with hair by Maria Kolchina. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The GuardianBarber David Fuentes (left) with model Atkin Altinay. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Then the MC starts announcing the barber styling winners: the third place, second place, then finally: can number nine come to the stage?<\/p>\n
Cheers and yells of \u201cJezza!\u201d arise from Stott\u2019s beaming barbershop colleagues. Stott ends up taking home first place in the barber styling competition and is the 2026 overall barber champion.<\/p>\n
Afterwards he is vibrating with happiness. \u201cI was hoping for maybe, at best, third place,\u201d says Stott. \u201cI\u2019m just happy that I have that [the award] to prove to myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
What is he going to do now that he\u2019s both the barber master and champion? \u201cI don\u2019t know. Go back and cut hair.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the entrance of the Hair festival in Sydney\u2019s ICC exhibition centre in late June, mannequin heads with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":774133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,63,105],"class_list":["post-774132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}