Devon training salon supports community with free haircuts

Hair At The Academy, a unique training salon based in Exeter, Devon has partnered up with the historic Exeter Cathedral to offer free haircuts to those most vulnerable in the community. Every Friday, two specialist staff members from The Academy are on-site at Exeter Cathedral with two trainee adult learners to cut hair for anyone who usually would not be able to afford this, for example those who are homeless, disadvantaged or long-term unemployed. The aim of this activity is to not only give a much-needed confidence boost to those who need it most, but also to open up conversations about ways they may be able to improve their situation, whilst giving trainee students vital on-the-job experience. The initiative is part of Hair At The Academy and VTCT’s wider community outreach project called Cutting Through the Noise, which aims to promote vocational education and mental health awareness. Cathedral Cuts has already been very popular in the city and those coming in for haircuts have been extremely grateful for the service, some were even close to tears after seeing their new look. Mary Pugsley MBE, Founder of Hair At The Academy said, “We feel privileged to support our community in this way. We have lots of experience working with people from all sorts of backgrounds and life experiences, supporting them to feel more confident and gain greater awareness about mental health. It’s more than just a haircut we’re offering, we’re there to listen and sometimes that’s all a person needs.” Hair At The Academy is an accredited VTCT centre, delivering work-ready qualifications in hairdressing, barbering, beauty, customer services and mental health awareness. They also work with The Lion’s Barber Collective, a suicide prevention charity, to deliver their bespoke training program BarberTalk, which is designed to help people spot signs of mental health problems. For more information about this project, please visit: www.hairattheacademy.co.uk/cuttingthroughthenoise/ You can also keep up to date with Hair At The Academy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.