Embracing the Grey! All the latest trends, ambassadors, and expertise from Matrix London.
Our Hairdressing Lecturer Elspeth Robertson shares her trip to the latest Matrix Bootcamp and working with some of the industry’s leading experts.
I had the opportunity to experience a ‘snapshot’ of the new Matrix courses that are available and what is on trend within industry by taking part in the latest industry ‘Bootcamp’.
I got to learn about all the latest trends within the hairdressing industry, up to date education and new ways of delivery as well as the career paths from those at the forefront of industry and how they got there.
On Trend Colouring Techniques & Colours
The Pulp Riot ‘Squad’ gave a demonstration and informed us about the benefits of using their wonderfully vibrant colour range. Pulp Riot are world renowned for their Pulp Riot High Speed Toners, Semi Permanent Colour, Pulp Riot Faction8, Pulp Riot Bleach & Pulp Riot Developers, Pulp Riot Kits, Pulp Riot Demi-Permanent shades and much more. Their vibrant colour range is a huge hit with modern hairdressers and clients. The creative element to their work and style was hugely inspirational and exploring the work they do will be a great asset for our students. Bring on the colour! The session was delivered by Deirdre Donnelly who has previously delivered Matrix education courses at UHI Outer Hebrides back in June 2022 when we welcomed over 20 local hairdressers from across the islands.
Michelle Davies, salon owner and Matrix artistic ambassador, also demonstrated techniques for colouring ‘the greys’. Embracing clients of all ages, styles and backgrounds was key to the whole bootcamp event, inclusivity is key!
Creative Cutting
We enjoyed a session with the inspirational Simon Townley, hairdresser to the footballing stars. Sharing his knowledge and teaching us the key differences between the latest looks of an updated ‘mullet’ and a ‘wolf cut’. The wolf cut was one of the biggest trends of 2022 with celebrities from Miley Cyrus and Billie Elish sporting the shaggy look. It also took off massively on Tiktok with ‘how to’ videos. Capturing trends like these are key to keeping at the fore of hairdressing – expertise in cutting and styling in line with fashion as well as using the best products is a fascinating part of our industry and means you can keep developing your own creativity. It never gets boring!
‘All hair types, all humans’
Multi Award winning hairdressing icon and photographer Desmond Murray shared his career journey and thoughts on the creative side of hairdressing. He explained, Hair is a fabric of which there are many types … we should be inclusive of ‘All hair types, all humans’. Desmond explained, “You have to get inspired and learn new techniques yourself that in turn makes you a better hairdresser.” This concept of constantly learning is essential to hairdressing. It is a creative and constantly changing industry that can challenge and inspire you on a daily basis.
Desmond was joined by Zoe Irwin who is known as “the Stella Macartney of hairdressing” - what an amazing and inspirational ambassador to our industry. She has had a varied career path that most of us can only dream of. As an established creative director and session stylist, she has worked with many of the world’s top brands, magazines and hairdressing businesses. She understand the importance of brand development and industry networking and shared some amazing insight with us.
Hearing about the career paths of those at the forefront of industry and how they got there was so inspirational and something I will definitely be taking back to our students.
It Is All About the Money!
There are so many elements to Hair and Beauty that people don’t consider. Most people working in the industry are self-employed and need to have strong skills in business, marketing, customer service and more. Claire John, Senior Regional Education Developer for Matrix showed off her acting skills along with Artistic Director Michael Convey to share their salon business knowledge. They shared insight and knowledge about the importance of customer care, building relationships and how important these are for strengthening and developing businesses.
Always Learning
I love working in my industry. Pre-covid 100% of everything was delivered from an education standpoint was face-to-face. The pandemic changes the entire industry and companies like Matrix reached out on their social media channels with 120,000 people joining live sessions.
Post covid the trend of how people learn is changing and the importance of social media and influencers is huge. As the fast-paced industry is developing on line, hairdressers need to learning and developing constantly. It is a fun and cutting-edge area to be in. We welcome working with industry leaders like Matrix to support our students and bring them the best for their learning experiences.
