Travelling hairdresser top tips from hooker and young

Many salon stylists dream of being a travelling hairdresser, sharing their professional knowledge across the globe and getting to see the world at the same time. But while international travel might seem exciting, it's invariably far less glamorous than you might imagine and entails a huge amount of hard work and forward planning. From getting the right working visa to ensuring that your tools don't blow up with foreign voltages, working as a travelling hairdresser certainly isn't all about just rocking up to glamorous hotel and putting on a fabulous show. Seasoned globetrotters Gary Hooker and Michael Young know better than most what it takes to get a show on the road - here they share their top ten tips for travelling hairdressers... 1. First and foremost, be prepared. Ensure that you have all the correct details of locations, timings, time differences and local currency for the duration of your stay. Also make sure that you have all of the necessary paperwork – passport, visas and insurance - available to hand. 2. Make sure that you share equipment and supplies out between whoever you're travelling with. In the event of your luggage going missing, it's important to know that someone on your team has kit safely packed too. 3. If you're going abroad for a show, seminar or shoot it's essential that you agree your terms of working with the organisers in advance. Make sure that you have the details in writing, agreed and signed by both parties. 4. Always go with an open mind. As with anything, it's important to have a plan - but if that changes, try and go with the flow and use your creativity to make it work and do what you do best. 5. If you're travelling with a product company, you should usually be guaranteed to have the products that you need when you arrive. Make sure that you check and, if not, make sure everything is packed securely and that you can let security know where you’re going and the reason if questioned. It's also extremely important to make sure that your scissors are not packed in your hand luggage! [Ed note: you'd be surprised how often this happens!] 6. Get as much rest as possible before you travel. Presenting and showcasing can be physically and mentally exhausting, especially with jetlag, so plenty of rest is a must even if going out seems like a more exciting option. 7. Working with models in foreign countries can sometimes be problematic due to the language barrier. Remember you can always communicate visually, so load up your iPad or laptop with images - hair is a universal language. Alternatively, a trusted local rep can usually act as a translator. 8. Embrace your surroundings. The best part of our job is seeing so many different countries and cultures. It gives us lots of inspiration and definitely impacts on our creativity and inspires us on shoots - make sure that you get out and see a bit of the country. 9. Take the opportunity to meet with overseas press and create relationships with publications in the countries you’re working in. This is very important and as a result of doing this, we have fantastic relationships with journalists across the globe. We're honoured for them to portray our work in their publications. This is also a great follow up for participating in shoots for the magazines or for more show opportunities, so make sure you network. 10. Last but not least – enjoy! The best part of our job is meeting so many different people around the world, it’s a great experience and one that we shouldn't take for granted.